Coming Home Again

Action – The action in the essay is the author and his mother cooking food. The essay describes the relation between the mother and son with cooking as the anchor. There are various instances where the author describes how the cooking is done.

Speech – The conversation between the author and his mother about calling the bank manager holds a lot of significance. The author’s mother told him to call the bank manager since she had found a discrepancy I the monthly statement. She had given him the task since she was weak in English. The author shouted at her and told her to do the work herself. He later regrets this.

Thought – The author thinks about the time he had gone to boarding school and could not spend time with his mother who was suffering from cancer.

Physical / Description – The essay has a number of descriptions about the preparation of food. One particular instant is the description of how is mother made kalbi when he was young. He used to stand beside her and watch her make it.

Somehow Form a Family

Action – The action in the essay is the author watching television. Throughout the essay he watches various shows on the television and relates it to his life. He talks about the various television shows he watched as he grew up. A particular extract may be – ‘And then Shelly and I were in school. We watched M*A*S*H* and Lou Grant, Love Boat and Fantasy Island. We watched Dynasty and Dallas. Opie was Richie Cunningham on Happy Days. Ben Cartwright showed up in a black bathrobe on Battlestar Gallactica’.

Speech – The author has not used any long conversation in his essay. A significant conversation is the one between the author and his father when his parents take him to a neurologist. This conversation is important to the essay as it shows us how much the author is engrossed in the world of the television shows.

Thought – The author has shared a lot of thoughts with the reader. He keeps thinking about the various television shows and relates to his real life. One particular aspect is when he sees Ann B. Davis in the cafeteria at school and wants her to be Alice from The Brady Bunch.

Physical / Description – He vividly describes his neighbors. He gives us every small detail of his neighbors in the initial pages.

Tracks and Ties

The memoir was not very clear to me. It was about three friends who had a lot of fun together as children. They indulged themselves in all the wrong activities. Later in the memoir they are no longer friends but the author meets his friend at the counter of the store. His friend id about to get married and four years later he dies.

The death of the author’s friend aroused mixed feelings in him. He feels that he should have helped him but at the same time he also feels that he deserved to be dead since he used to beat up his wife. I think that he regrets all the wrong things that they had done like taking drugs. This kind of childhood may have been a reason for his friend’s death.

Coming Home Alone

The essay “Coming Home Again” by Chang-Rae Lee is about the relationship that he shared with his mother. The food acts as an anchor to the memoir. In this memoir he describes all the work that his mother did especially cooking. He talks about his interest cooking and how the relationship he shared with his mother changed when he went to college.

He really misses his mother now. It was only after her death that he realized her importance in his life. He craves to spend time with her. There are a number of things that he regrets in his life. One of them being the day that he had shouted at his mother and had told her to do all the work by herself. Sometimes he thinks that he should not have gone to college so that he could spend more time with her. He also feels that he should have learnt more cooking from her.

Somehow Form a Family

The essay was about the influence and impact of television on the life of Tony Earley. Tony lived in a nuclear family in a “split-level ranch style house”. He considered his family poor since they had a black and white television. The description of his neighborhood was vivid. His life took a drastic turn when his father brought a colored television. The author watched a number of television shows and as time passed he started relating the events of his life to it. The essay tells us the about all the television shows he watched as he grew up. Personally, I did not like the essay since it kept naming various television shows without showing its significance in his life.

One concrete sensation in the essay was the description of the author’s neighborhood. The author describes his neighborhood in great detail. He talks about every small detail. He even talks about the dog that Mr. and Mrs. Frady have. One abstract reasoning in the essay was about the names of the different television shows. It is not possible for the author to remember all the names of the television shows that he saw as a child.

I feel that the author is trying to tell us that watching too much of television has a negative impact on our lives. We start imagining that we live in that beautiful world created by them and forget about reality. It affects our professional as well as personal life.

Spellbound

Angela
She is the daughter of Ubaldo who is the owner of a ranch in Texas. Her brother Jorge helps her father in the ranch. Her family is originally from Mexico but they crossed the border and came to America when she was very young. Presently, she is in the eighth grade. Her parents do not know English. She herself designs different methods of learning new words (example – poster board). One of the reasons of the family to shift to America is to provide better education to Angela. Winning the spelling bee will have a huge impact on her family and will make them really proud.
I think she is at a disadvantage since her parents do not know English. Also, by looking at the family it seems that they are not very well off. She might not have access to many resources that other children might use. I feel that this might be an obstacle for her to win the spelling bee. I chose her because she is very enthusiastic about learning new words and is confident in what she does. She also has a social and economic constrain.

Neil
He is the son of Indian immigrants Rajesh and Darshana. They are living in Clemente, California. His sister Shivani placed 5th at the nationals. He is very focused about winning the spelling bee. All his family members want him to win and provide him with a lot of support. His father takes some time off from his work and helps him out with spellings. He sits with Neil for three hours each day asking him the spellings of thousands of words. He has a very well researched and organized way of study. He has spelling coaches for a number of languages other than English like Spanish, German and French. He spends a lot of time practicing.
His family seems to be rich and fluent in English. He has a number of resources available to him. I don’t think he has any social or economic constrains. One of the reasons that I chose him is that he also has a life other than academics unlike the others. Also, he makes full utilization of the resources available to him.

I think Neil has the most chances to win. This is because he exploited all his resources and is working really hard towards achieving his goal.

Chapter 12, 13 &14

In chapter 12 Michael Pollan talks about slaughtering. He tells us the process by which chickens are prepared to be sold to the people. The chapter also talks about the government requirements needed for the above process. Joel seems to be upset about the rules and regulations of the government but reluctantly follows them. Pollan describes how he spent his day helping in the slaughtering process and talks in detail about each step involved in it.
I personally didn’t like the chapter since I am a vegetarian and don’t like reading about how meat is prepared. The process was explained in detail and I found it very brutal and disgusting.

Chapter 13 compares the products of polyface farming with those of industries. The chapter shows that the products of the polyface farms are no competition to the industrial products. Polyface products are much better in quality but are much more expensive than industrial products. This gives the industries an advantage since people always prefer products that are cheaper. The chapter tells us about the markets of the polyface farms.
Through this chapter I realized that I always eat industrialized products which are not as good as polyface products.

In chapter 14 the author is leaving the farm. He takes along with him chickens, eggs and corns. Joel does not let him pay. He says that the work the author did in his farm is more than enough to pay the price of these food products. He author makes a meal for his friends in Charlottesville. He tells us how delicious the food was and talks about its health benefits.

Chapters 9 & 11

Michael Pollan starts the chapter by describing a shop of Whole foods. He says that he enjoys shopping here just as he enjoys browsing a good bookstore. He talks about the various food stuff found there. As the title of the chapter suggests it concentrates on organic food. Through this chapter we learn about the history of organic farming. The food produced from organic farming is good for our health as fewer amounts of pesticides are used but it proves to be harmful to the soil. The author explores the source of organic food and reveals to us the truth behind it.

In the eleventh chapter the author is in a Polyface farm. He says that he had overslept and everyone else had left to do their respective chores. The chapter talks about the interdependence of the various plants and animals on each other. The author explains a natural cycle that goes on in a farm. He explains to us the various jobs done by the animals to make the farm easier to maintain. This is the concept of stacking. He tells us about its benefits especially that of using less pesticides and fertilizers.

I found this concept of stacking very interesting, profitable and eco-friendly.

The question I want to ask everyone is that how many of us read about the product we purchase from the food markets?

Storyboard for the Commerials

Commercial #1:

Product: Hancock’s Superior Rum

Demographic: Young Adults, Ages 21-28

Setting: Bar

The advertisement will begin with two young males trying to get the attention of a pretty young girl. Both of the men will be trying very hard to impress and woo the girl. Simultaneously, they will both ask her to take a shot with them. She will respectfully decline, but the two gentlemen will continue on to take the shot. One will ask for Bacardi while the other will request Hancock’s. They will both toast to the girl and take their respective shots. The one who takes the Bacardi shot will gag on it and spit it out accidentally onto the girl. On the other hand, the one who takes the Hancock’s shot will take his shot down smoothly. The girl will slap the guy who drank Bacardi and leave with the other guy. The commercial will end with the saying “Hancock’s…always smooth.”

Commercial #2

Product: Hancock’s Superior Rum

Demographic: Young Adults, Ages 21-28

Setting: Bar

This advertisement will be done completely in black and white. It will be much slower than the previous commercial. A man will come up to a bar and ask for a glass of Hancock’s. The bartender will prepare the man a very fine mixed drink. Most of this commercial will revolve around the careful preparation behind creating a Hancock’s drink. The bartender will prepare the drink with an upbeat and classy outward appearance. The commercial will end with the bartender slowly sliding the drink down the bar to the man asking for the drink. The man and bartender will give each other and downward head nod and smile.

Chapters 8 & 10

The 8th chapter introduces us to Polyface farms. As the title of the chapter says “All Flesh Is Grass”, the author explains the readers the reason behind this. He introduce us to Joel Salatin, the owner of the farm in which he is working. Joel calls himself a ‘grass farmer’. He maintains a hundred acres of pasture. The chickens, cows and other farm animals feed on this and become healthy and we in turn feed on these animals. He explains to us how this cycle works and positively affects the environment.

Michael Pollan also talks about the human grass alliance which makes us aware of our relation with grass in the pre-historic period and now. Towards the end of the chapter he compares Naylor’s farm and the Polyface farm. He talks about the advantages of the Polyface farm over Naylor’s farm.

Chapter 10th starts off with the comparison of the perception of a human and a cow for a piece of land covered with grass. The author describes the various types of grass as a salad bar for the cattle. The author talks about the growth of grass and the right time for cattle to graze on it. Both overgrazing and under grazing of a particular land proves to be harmful to it. The optimal grazing boosts up the growth of the grass.

In this chapter, the author goes deeper into the food chain. He tells us that the grass is just a link for the solar energy to reach us. He also compares how the cows are feed in a Polyface farm with Naylor’s farm. The Polyface farm has a more natural way of feeding the cattle.

After reading these chapters I realized the importance of grass in our lives. I never knew it was so significant to us.

I would like to know why farmers don’t carry out Polyface farming in large scale.