The Schlosser Legacy

Right: Herbert Schlosser with his wife


Many people across the globe have read Eric Schlosser’s books “The Fast Food Nation” and “Reefer Madness” but do not truly know his history and how he got to be one of best authors in the country. This article is about how this man came to be and how he got to be who he is today.

Eric Schlosser was born on August 17, 1979 in New York City. Eric’s father, Herbert Schlosser, was originally a Wall Street Lawyer who turned into a newscaster. Eric eventually left “the big apple” for Los Angeles in his pursuit to become a head in the broadcasting world, and eventually in 1974, he became the president of NBC. As Eric aged he became more and more interested in writing and literature. He enrolled at the Colleges at Princeton and Oxford and majored in American History and British Imperial History. Upon graduating college, Schlosser wrote the play Americans in 1985, which is set to the theme of American Imperialism in the early 20th century. Although this play was not immediately accepted, it was eventually produced in 2003 and is currently being performed out of the United States. After deciding to get out of fictional writing, Schlosser became a journalist for The Atlantic Monthly in Boston. During his career at the magazine company he became very well known. He earned the national Magazine Award for reporting in his two series article “Reefer Madness” and “Marijuana and the Law” in 1994. He then won the Sidney Hillman award for the article “In the Strawberry Fields” in 1995. Besides writing for the Atlantic Monthly, Schlosser wrote for Rolling Stone, Vanity Fair, The Nation, and The New Yorker. Then in 2001, Eric Schlosser wrote The Fast Food Nation, which became a New York Times Best-Seller for three years. Originally, “Fast Food Nation” began as a two part article for The Rolling Stone but quickly escalated into one of the most well written documentaries of recent time. “Fast Food Nation” even became a movie in 2006 which was directed by Richard Linklater. During the time of the “Fast Food Nation” craze, Schlosser wrote the book “Reefer Madness” which was a continuation of his earlier articles “Reefer Madness” and “Marijuana and the Law”.

Currently, Schlosser resides with his wife Shauna Redford, Robert Redford’s daughter, and two children in California. He is currently working on a book about control and the American Penitentiaries. Eric Schlosser has helped many understand the way things work and it is in this article that we can truly see how he came to be the journalist he is today.

Time Management

On October 12, I attended my fourth workshop of the year. The interesting thing about this specific workshop was that the professor, who was supposed to teach the seminar, never showed up. Fortunately, a replacement did show up with 30 minutes to go in the seminar. Since the replacement only explained the steps involved with selecting new classes, I decided to write this blog on time management.

When you look at time management you automatically think organization. In fact, that is one of the biggest parts of time management. Organization can not only help people achieve present goals, but also help people with their long-term goals as well. Many people use things like action plans to achieve these goals. Action plans help to organize the work that needs to be done to achieve a longer goal . Plus, the plan establishes how long and how much each of the specific work needs to be done. Another time management device that helps with achieving a certain goal is Personal Goal Setting. I feel the most important part for keeping your time management plan working, is planning goals and activities you may like. It is known that if you really don’t want to do activities that you plan, you have a much greater chance of forgetting it in the future.
So the big question is. How do you make sure you don’t arrive late for that next meeting or cram for the next test? If you follow just four simple rules you will have success in not only arriving on time, but using your time for work more efficiently. The first rule is developing a plan for not only tomorrow’s agenda but also one for a month away. A calendar or an organizer can help to do this more efficiently and supply a material way of remembering things. It is true that some things in life are unexpected, but it is still important that you have a plan to get around on a normal day. Not all plans are set in stone, but are just there to set a base for the structure of the day. Remember, you are not a robot so you don’t have to follow everything that is written. It comes back to the fact that the plan is always your choice.

The second rule is that if you have free time during a certain day and that day is followed by a compacted day, you must use your sense and use that free time to work ahead. In other words, it is better not to procrastinate what you can do on a slow today than on a busy tomorrow. If you have that test in three days, take time to go over it moderately every day instead of cramming the night before the test. Trust me, it doesn’t work.

The third rule kind of fits into the previous rule. Go to bed early and use solo time in the morning for quiet projects. This rule is important when you need to concentrate on a certain task. Work like reading, writing, and future planning are ideal during this peaceful time because they require the most focus to complete. Even though the only thing a lot of people like to do in the morning is sleep, it is actually found to be the best time to do work. It is a period of the day that most of everything is reenergized from sleep. It is that point in the day that the brain is completely stress-free and without stress. Without stress there is no worry and without worry, there is no rushing. If we keep everything on a gentle pace, there is a definite guarantee that you will become more successful at both organizing your time and becoming more productive.

The final rule is the priority list. It is important that you set your duties according to how important they are at the time you are creating a plan. For example, if you have a paper due in a month and a test in a day, your priority will most likely be studying for the test. If you do not have your plans prioritized, they are basically just as good as not having a plan at all.

To wrap up this discussion I leave you with a few questions to think about. I want you to think about someone you know that has a continuous problem with procrastination. Is that person you are thinking about successful? Would you ever set him to be your role model? If your answer is no, then you are on the right track to having a successful future.

The question that many college students go through today is what they want to major in and what how they get that business experience that will gain them a job upon graduation. In fact, though these major decisions seem difficult, they are actually very easy to make with the help of the colleges career services. In my last workshop for my fall semester I learned about the many things you must do for your transition to the real world and maybe your future employer.

Peggy Mathis, one of the counselors in the Career Services office, started her discussion with the way businesses classify people. She said that businesses started to use tests after World War I to determine who people were. The test that she gave us classified people in four different ways: introverts vs. extroverts, sensing vs. institutional, thinking vs. feeling, and judgment vs. perception. I listened to her descriptions of each and I classified myself as an introvert, intuitional, feeling, and perceptive type of person. What type of person are you?

As Mrs. Mathis continued I learned more and more about the many ways Penn State helps us as students to get involved in our fields of interest through its wonderful internship and co-op programs. I learned about the many career fairs Penn State offers at every one of its campuses.

Along with the idea of searching for co-ops and internships, Mrs. Mathis discussed about Occupational Information Interviewing. This basically means that you should participate in activities that have deal with your field of study. If you never experienced the field of study you never know that you will like it. If you do things with the Campus like career fairs, you are able to ask questions from the people that work in that field of study every day of their lives. If you like what they do you can pursue it but if you don’t, it isn’t too late to change your major or field of study. If you truly want to know if you like a job or if you want to pursue a field that you get enjoyment from I encourage you to ask questions at the many job fairs Penn State offers. My father always said to me “Make sure you like what you do, because if you don’t, you will not enjoy going to work and making a difference”.

It is not often that a person can formally meet and listen to the author of a book they read. On November 12, 2007, I had the privilege of listening and meeting Eric Schlosser, the author of the New York Times Bestseller “Fast Food Nation”. It is after I listened to his speech that I decided to write what I felt about his thoughts. When I arrived at the speech, Mr. Schlosser had already begun his presentation. Unfortunately, he explained most of what he felt about the book before I arrived. When I began to listen to his speech he emphasized the idea that “knowledge is power”. He said that it was this idea that gave him the motivation for writing the “Fast Food Nation”. He stated that if people truly knew about how the fast food business worked, that maybe they would use their new understanding to pursue a change. Isn’t it the goal of our society to help one another and keep everyone safe? If this is the case, Eric Schlosser has done a remarkable thing. He has opened our eyes to the darkness behind the smiling face of not only fast food chains, but to various other well known corporations that we support everyday. During his speech, Mr. Schlosser explained that the knowledge we are gaining as a society is starting to promote change in some of the most powerful companies in the world. As we look back in the past decade we can see the effects of our knowledge in almost every business of the world. Ten years ago, we did not see the magnitude of healthier foods that we see today at fast food restaurants. McDonald’s now serves milk, apple slices, and a variety of salads. This change occurred when doctors started to relay warnings about the health problems with eating those juicy cheeseburgers and fatty fries. This new knowledge that people were given made them start eating at places with a healthier menu. With decreasing business, fast food restaurants like McDonald’s decided to introduce a healthier line of food items to their original menu. This change slowed down the losses of the food chains profits but they never really rebounded. As Schlosser continued through his speech, he explained how the fast food industry schemed their way to a better business during the past years of increased health awareness. He said that they are moving their advertising and focus to the poorer part of our society. Along with the new health foods, many fast food restaurants introduced more options on their widely advertised “Dollar Menus”. With cheaper prices, poorer families would come to the fast food joints, not caring what they eat. It is a sad reality to think that fast food restaurants treat their customers in the same way that they treat their livestock. Most fast food chains’ ultimate goal is to make more money. When Schlosser concluded his speech, he quoted a phrase. He said it is important for us to remember to “Have it your way”. If this was one of the first times you have heard about Eric Schlosser or his past book “Fast Food Nation”, I encourage you to research about him or read his book. It truly opens your eyes to the way you look at the world.

In the many public institutions and colleges, people undergo stereotyping. In fact, in today’s societies, stereotypes have become so commonplace that people never realize how destructive they can be and what problems they may cause. Many students in schools are classified into groups like nerds, jocks, goths, gangsters, band geeks, cheerleaders and even druggies. Some stereo types even tie into a person’s race or social class. Stereotyping is built into so much of our society that many students go too far and cause problems that gain national attention.

What problems am I talking about? I am talking about the recent rise in school shootings. Whether it is the Virginia Tech Massacre or Columbine incident, police and detectives alike have said that both of these situations were caused by a form of stereotyping. In both circumstances, the people involved with the killing were outcasts to the school or college’s mainstream of students by stereotypical treatment. Instead of discussing their problems with school or college officials, they believed that they had to solve the stereotyping themselves. So, what did they do? They believed the only way to shut people up was to not allow them to speak at all. Even though the number of students who decide to kill people in these situations is small, it still a wake- up call that stereotyping needs to stop. Calling people names and treating them a certain way doesn’t seem to harm people, but it could cause them to do things that may either harm themselves or others. To me, school shootings and violence in places of education can be stopped with eliminating stereotypes. If we treat each other equally, we may all find life to be better and more enjoyable. I will always remember that there were times in my life when I did know it all, wasn’t popular, or had a name like “geek”, and my friends helped me through, taught me to care and showed me that we are all sharing this world together.

In the spirit of the upcoming holiday, I decided to write a blog on the past and present celebrations of Halloween. I am sure not many know where this holiday of frights came from and why it was named Halloween. I will also describe other celebrations around the world that tie into this widely known holiday.

Halloween has been celebrated by the American public for many years with parades, candy, costumes, and monsters. With this business-driven holiday increasing profits of costume and candy companies, it strays farther and farther away from its origins. For the people who don’t know, the holiday of Halloween originated from the Pagan festival called Samhain, which was celebrated by the Celts of Ireland and Great Britain. They believed that during the time of the celebration, spirits could make contact with the physical world. They also believed that magic was stronger and more abundant at this time. When the Scottish and Irish immigrated to the United States, they carried the celebration over with them. Even though these immigrants came over many centuries, their celebration only emerged as a different celebration when it was adopted by society in the late twentieth century. It changed from a spiritual celebration to a money making ploy to target children and young adults. When you think about it, you can see the tie between this circumstance and fast food restaurants in “Fast Food Nation”. Doesn’t it seem that even holidays like Christmas, Halloween, and Easter are straying from their true purpose and becoming just another money maker for companies like Mars and Hershey?


You may be thinking now, “Why Halloween is named Halloween?” The answer to that is very simple and it requires a look at another celebration that many Christian’s celebrate. The celebration I am talking about is called “All Saints Day” and “All Hallows Eve” in which “Hallow” means “saint”. This event is celebrated by a feast on November 1st or the first Sunday after Pentecost which commemorates the achievements and lives of past saints. Even though this event is celebrated by most Christians, the idea of who is considered to be a saint is left open. In western Christianity, people believe that “All Saints Day” celebrates those who have gone to heaven, while the next day, “All Souls' Day”, commemorates the departed faithful who have not yet reached heaven. These differences in celebration also change between countries.

In Portugal, Spain and Mexico, ofrendas (offerings) are made on this day. These offerings include food and material objects. They also normally place pictures of the deceased within a collage of flowers, burning incense, and candles. In Spain, the play Don Juan Tenorio is traditionally performed. In Belgium, France, Hungary, Italy, Portugal and Spain people bring flowers to the graves of dead relatives.

In the countries of Poland, Sweden, Slovenia, Slovakia, Lithuania, Croatia, Austria, Hungary and Germany, the tradition is to light candles and visit the graves of deceased relatives.

In the Philippines, the day is spent visiting the graves of deceased relatives, where they offer prayers, lay flowers, and light candles, often in a picnic-like atmosphere.

In many of the English speaking countries, the festival is traditionally celebrated with the hymn "For All the Saints" by William Walsham How. The most familiar tune for this hymn is Sine Nomine by Ralph Vaughan Williams.

As you can see, candy, monsters, and trick-or-treating is just a tip of the iceberg of this world-wide Christian celebration. If you are a christian and you do not know about this celebration, I recommend you to go to your pastor or cardinal and learn about it. I hope you enjoyed learning about the holiday you thought you knew and what its true purpose and meaning are. Thank you for reading and I hope you have a very Happy Halloween!!!!!

I have included a recent article on Mars' treatment of animals, and a website that explains the ties of Halloween to Christianity.

I would also like to give credit to Wikipedia for the vast amount of information given on the subject.

"Fast Food Nation" Part II

As a continuation of a previous blog, I decided to further my summary of “Fast Food Nation” from chapters 7-10. In each of the following paragraphs, I will summarize and add my personal input for the situations presented in the book. I hope that this blog will help you to further your understanding of what the book is about even if you haven’t read it at all. Chapter seven is titled “Cogs in the Great Machine”. This chapter began in the little meat packing town of Greenly, Colorado. It explains how this town turned from a utopian community to meatpacking run mayhem full of migrant workers caused from the IBP revolution of meatpacking plants. Schlosser then turns to discuss the history of IBP and how the meat packing giant got to be in that little utopian town in Colorado. He said that IBP used the same system that McDonald’s used for its service for its own meatpacking industry. IBP’s arrival to the utopian town of Greenly occurred because the town had no labor unions and the fact that it was close enough to the border to hire cheap and unskilled migrant workers. Once the migrant workers and IBP infiltrated the town, it transformed it into a dirty community with increased crime and poverty. To me this is a horrible reality. Corporations and various businesses seem to both ruin and support its community. As foreign competition rises, companies like IBP have to resort to cheaper labor. The increase of unskilled workers creates more problems in the community like crime and poverty making the business more of a detriment more than a benefit to society. The question is, will this trend of poor business relations with the community continue into our future or will corporations or government cure the problems created by low wage jobs? Some people say that a higher minimum wage will solve the problem and some say that immigration and business regulations need to be tightened. Whatever solution is used one thing is for sure. Something needs to be done. Chapter eight is titled “The Most Dangerous Job” for a good reason. In this chapter Schlosser is taken on a tour of a meatpacking plant somewhere out west. He details his tour in the book and describes a horrific view of what meat packing workers go through every day. His documented tour explained that many of the workers in the plant used extremely sharp knives and worked long hour days which caused a high rate of injury within the workplace. This detail wasn’t as shocking as the fact that the meat company’s extremely low compensation in insurance costs for injuries. The chapter even explained that sometimes the company’s workman’s comp was so low that the injured workers had to go back to work to pay for their own medical payments. To me, these actions just explain to society that a human life is just another resource to use and eventually exhaust. People seem to be treated as well as the animals they slaughter. What is your opinion on this matter? Chapter nine is titled “What’s in the Meat”. This chapter dealt with the recent scares of diseases, primarily E. Coli, in meat processed at the various high production meat packing factories. From reading the previous chapter, you can easily imagine how disease could get into the meat. Before the IBP revolution, the amount of tainted meat was contained within a small area, but with the mass production of meat, recalls of such meat become extremely difficult to manage. Schlosser used the 1997 E. Coli strain in the meat from Hudson foods as an example in the book. Of the total 35 million pounds of ground beef recalled by Hudson, only 10 million pounds had been not eaten during the time of the recall. The worst realization of this chapter is the 200,000 people that get sick every day in the United States from tainted food. As you can see, these problems are all caused by the fact that corporations are constantly spending less money on resources and safety precautions to increase their profit. Chapter ten is titled “Global Realization/ Have it Your Way”. This chapter explains both how the world is changing and how the fast food phenomenon is spreading to the various countries around the globe. Like in America, fast food restaurants are changing the economy of countries like Germany. It is changing what was once peaceful towns in Bavaria, into towns like present day Greenly. Like in the chapter’s title, the principles adopted by the fast food chains and the many facets of America’s food industries are being spread globally. It presents the view that the future does not look good for a nice, peaceful society that once was. Even though I have told you the main points of each chapter, I recommend anybody who finds interest in this blog to read this wonderful documentary. It has truly changed my view of the world and how I interact in it. It is a relief that I can now know what I eat and were it might have come from.

Preventing the "Freshman 15"

Many people have heard the warnings of the “Freshman 15” but many students wonder if it a true fact or a silly college foley. Many studies have been done on the “Freshman 15” and some conclusive results have came out. Many doctors explain that students on average gain 3 to 10 pounds during their first 2 years of college. Most of this weight gain occurring during the first semester of their freshman year. Even though the studies prove that the “Freshman 15” is not completely true, doctors warn that eating habits gained in a person’s college years can lead to a lifetime of weight problems. It is up to each student to develop a healthy lifestyle to create a healthy future. On Wednesday, October 10, 2007, I attended my second workshop on the “Freshman 15”. In this workshop we discussed not only what the “Freshman 15” was but how to prevent. This blog is on what I learned to do to prevent this unhealthy situation. In the workshop we discussed the main factors of our health. These factors included stress, exercise, and diet. The first of these factors we discussed was diet. When people think about diets they think about the food pyramid. Some people now may be surprised the food pyramid has both changed its look and information. It now requires 5-6 ounces of meat and poultry, 2 servings of fruits, 5-8 servings of grains, 3 servings of vegetables, 3 servings of milk, and only 5-6 tbsps. of fats, oils, or sweets. The pyramid displays the main keys to dieting. You have to choose nutritious foods, substitution, and portion control. The second factor of a healthy lifestyle we discussed was stress. The thing that many people don’t know about stress is that it has three influences. Those influences are physiological, social, and academic. I learned that physiological stress comes from a person’s own thoughts. Some people dwell on their problems in their minds which tend to increase eating. Academic stress is caused by the many organization and study problems which worry people and promotes excessive eating. Social stress is caused by a person’s social life and the many social storms that a person experiences in relationships. Even though weight gain is a reality in college, a person can beat it by managing stress, exercise, and diet in your life. I hope that this blog will help inform you about the real reason's for weight gain and how easy it is to prevent it.

Outsourcing. Good or Bad?

In the articles “The outsourcing Boogeyman”, and “The Future of Outsourcing” a positive picture of outsourcing due to globalization is painted. They presented a view of how outsourcing actually increases jobs in both foreign countries and in America itself. Many corporations are using outsourcing in one of their business sectors to increase productivity. The articles also explain how outsourcing is actually increasing better positions in the Unites States as well as helping companies expand their businesses. Inc today’s society, growth is mandatory to survive and compete. The critics of unemployment say that outsourcing is the cause, but the technology advances have more impact on jobs than the outsourcing.

In both of the “Bogeyman” and “Future” articles, the companies that are using the outsourcing are producing more goods with fewer costs. This allows the bottom line profit to be greater. With more profits, corporations are able to put more money in other sectors within the business, thus creating more American positions. The other piece of the puzzle is that some positions cannot be outsourced. For example, you can’t get a hot meal for dinner from China. Some services will always be local. The other advantage to outsourcing that the articles address is that more final products will be exported to other countries now that their citizens will have the financial means of purchasing the product. This money allows for greater supply of products and a larger workforce. The demand for a product increases; therefore, the supply increases. The only way supply increases are through a larger, more productive workforce.

Like protectionists, some economists and consumers do not look at the whole picture. In a recent USA TODAY article, outsourced labor sometimes creates products and services that do follow the same stick rules that toys made in the United States follow. I chose this article, because it illustrated that people are “scared” of foreign markets instead of working to understand them. The article explained that much of the problem was in the initial design (U.S. workforce) of the toys instead of the outsourcing issues.

After studying economics in both high school and these first few weeks of college, I have a much different viewpoint on outsourcing. I have always looked at outsourcing on its media hype, “It is taking American jobs!” These articles and this class have helped me recognize that outsourcing, along with other economic strategies, can be an asset as well as a liability. The idea that a Penske truck can have a document sent via an 800 number in 30 minutes from outsourcing creates a more efficient workforce in the United States. This increases our workers productivity as well as our wages. Competition is the key to surviving. A company needs to us the resources they have to become more efficient. For example, a restaurant Reading can concentrate on cooking better food and serving their customers, instead of operating a back office for paperwork and payroll. The chef/owner can outsource financials and do what he loves most, cook! By becoming a better chef and having his payroll outsourced, there is now a chance that someone from India could have the financial means to visit his restaurant in the United States.

I now understand that an open economy triggers economic growth. I have seen the under layers of outsourcing. Outsourcing to me is outgoing and growing. It may take a few years, but ultimately our international economy will hit an equilibrium that is good for our foreign neighbors and the United States, After all, isn’t our ultimate goal as humanitarians to solve the world’s problems? By expanding with our neighbors, some of their economic issues we need to support will be supported by their own economies.

In the present day I think very little of racism and the treatment of blacks in the United States. I think the whole entire nation felt this way until the Jena 6 trial captured national news coverage. I made me feel horrible to think that racism was still happening to this day, a mere 139 years since the 13, 14, and 15 amendments created equal rights for African Americans. I want to explain what happened in this case and how I feel about the case and give my own opinion of what should happen in the ruling.

Jena is a small town in Louisiana which had a mixture of many races living in it. The place where the dispute began was at Jena High School. During the school day reports said that whites and blacks rarely sat together. The white students sat under a tree in the school’s courtyard and named it “the white tree”. Black students were said to typically sit in the auditorium and barely ever go to the white tree. On August 24, 2007 the principle was asked by a black freshman student if he could sit under the “white tree” during a school assembly. Unconcerned, the principle said that anybody he could sit anywhere he wanted to. In the morning after the assembly, two nooses were said to be hanging from the white tree. The principle eventually discovered who hung the nooses from the tree, and recommended to the board for them to be expelled. The board however, decided to lower the punishment. The white students were said to have been put into an alternative school for nine days were they spent 3 weeks of in-school suspension, attended every Saturday Detention, and attended Discipline Court. Before they were allowed back in the school they had a mental evaluation from the school’s Crisis Management procedures. The principle did not think it was a serious event and considered it to be a bad prank. However, due to the next events black residents of Jena considered it to be a serious form of racism.

After the noose incident, many interracial brawls occurred between Jena High School’s black and white students. The fighting made the school’s principle call an emergency assembly which J. Reed Walters, the La Salle District Attorney spoke at. He put a strict warning out that if any one of the school students caused any more problems, that he had the power to erase their life. As hyped up as the situation was, the black students felt that Walters was focusing on them when he spoke. Other eyewitnesses said that this was not the case.
Tensions began to get tight as the days went on. These were some of what went on in Jena after the assembly on September 6, 2006.

September 10, 2006- The school board of Jena High School rejected a request by families of black students to discuss the current events. The board felt that it would get a lot of complaints of how the noose incident was handled.

November 30, 2006- A wing of Jena High school was burned and then latter demolished. Arsonists which were never identified were suspected to be the culprits of the fire.

December 1, 2006- A group of black students, including Robert Bailey Jr., and a white student erupts outside a party. After the party supervisor kicked those students out of the party another fight occurred between the group of black students and a group of white men. The police were called and Justin Sloan, a white man, was convicted of simple battery for his role in the fight and was put on probation.

Decmber 2, 2006- (story 1) A group of black students including Robert Bailey is confronted by a group of white men with a shotgun outside a convenient store. Bailey and his friends manage to take the gun and run away. (story 2) Bailey and his friends attack a group of white men at a convenient store. One of the white students grabs the shotgun in self defense. The black students wrestle the gun away from the man and then run away.

Finally on December 4, 2006, Justin Baker, a white student at Jena High school, was assaulted. He was hit on the back of the head and knocked down by a black student. According to the eyewitnesses, a group of six black students continually kicked him. Baker was kicked into a state of unconsciousness.

The trial for the attack charged five of the six black students, including Bailey to second-degree murder. The sixth student was charged as a juvenile because he was fourteen.
Although I will not go into the trial details, I will describe to you the response of the trial.
When the trial was occurring, many black protesters from around the United States accused the trail as being a racially charged decision. The judge and workers in the justice department said that it had nothing to do with the decision. This is the point that every body heard on the various news networks.

I personally think that the “Jena 6” trial was handled appropriately. I did not think that race was taken in account in the trial. The only thing that might be able to be under dispute was the adult treatment some of the “Jena Six” got. To me the trial would have happened the same way if white men beat up Barker. I am assuming that the jury made a fair decision in the trial based on the evidence presented. Let us not forget that the “Jena 6” did beat a man unconscious. No matter if you are white black, or blue, if you beat up a person you will have a criminal charge against you. As a person watching and reading the news, I do not get the best of details but I felt that nothing should have been done differently in this case.

I don’t feel that I am racist in any way by thinking this. I would never disrespect or hurt anyone based on their race, or ethnicity. In my eyes, everyone should be treated equally, and if a white man beated another white man to unconsciousness I would give him the same charge. I would like to hear your opinion on this controversial debate that almost seems unbelievable.

This week’s blog will be on my first workshop I attended on Friday September 21st at 1:00pm. I chose to attend the Microsoft Office 2007 Overview. The workshop taught me many valuable skills on the new Microsoft software. The first software we went over in the workshop was Microsoft Word 2007. I found that a lot had changed with the new display of Word. Instead of having toolbars, the new Word has Quick access toolbars and tabs. These new tabs helps a person choose what they want to do with text easily and efficiently. Another change that I saw in the new Word was the new reviewing tools. Besides the updated spelling and grammar checker, Word 2007 has a researcher and an online translator built into the software. The next software we reviewed was Microsoft Excel 2007. Like Word, Excel 2007 used tabs and quick access toolbars. The new Excel also has a total amount of 1000 columns and 1000 rows and has a calculation complete tool. Even with all these new items, the nicest addition to both Excel and Word 2007 was the zoom tool. Unlike the older versions of Microsoft Office, the zoom tool is now on the bottom of the display and only requires the click of the mouse instead of navigating throughout the confusing master bar of Office 2000. The final software product that we navigated was the new Microsoft PowerPoint. This program showed the most change of any of the new Microsoft Office programs. It provides new displays and animations for users and allows the user to pick them right off the new tab and quick access toolbars at the top. It also has new ways to personalize text boxes offering 3-D effects and new shapes. Even though I can’t explain the entire overview to you, I’d expect you to discover for yourself how easy Microsoft Office 2007 is to operate. Trust me; you will drop the old Office 2000 in a second once you’ve learned the skills necessary to master the 2007 version. This was a very informative workshop. I can take the knowledge I gained and hopefully use it for my own classes as well as help others who need to learn about Microsoft Office 2007. Thank you for reading this week’s blog. May all your computer days be Office 2007 days!

Today I watched A Fair(y) Use Tale. This youtube movie was created to helped people understand everthing about copyright law. If you choose not to watch this movie I will explain its basic priciples to you in the following paragraphs. I will aslo give you various other sources that you can go to learn more about copyright law.

When learning about a copright, you first need to know what it is. The movie gave a copyright the definition of a perminently fixed original work. A work that is copyrighted can only be used by its owner. A work can be copyrighted are things like books, music, dances, and movies, and even pictures. The one thing that can not be copyrighted is an idea. So if someome says they have a copyright for thinking that potatoes are good, they are obviously lieing. So now you ask. How long does a copyright last? Well, copyrights vary in time length and are set depending on the product and a owner's wants. Some copyrights last forever and some may only last for 20 years. Within a copyright's duration, a person must ask for and sometimes even pay for the work from the copyright's owner. However, people may take certian pieces of a work that is copyrighted if that person's use of the work are used for things like teaching, news reporting, parodies, or critical comments. Their are also certian rules on what you can borrow from a work of copyrighted material. These rules regulate how much of the work you can borrow, the nature of the work you borrow, and prevent you from changing the works value in the marketplace. A fair use of copyrighted content has to be legally defensible and can not be questioned as stealing.

I bet you are still wondering about what happens when a copy right ends on a work. Once a copyright reaches its expiration date, the work it protects becomes public domain. That means that any person in society can use the work for free and use it anywhere in their lives. Public domain of works helps to create a thriving society with useful ideas.

Copyright laws are a big idea in the news of today. Michael Moore who is famous for his political works of "Farenheit 911" and "Sicko" dicusses in the linked video what he feels about people downloading his works.

While I was perusing the internet I found a good powerpoint presentation on copyrights and I wanted to include it into this blog for you to look at. I aslo incuded the website of the U.S. Copyright Laws in case you decide you want to look into furthur detail, the rules and regualtions of our country's philosophy on copyrights. If you do look at it you can see the many facets of what a copyright involves. You can see that the laws are set up in a form of our constitution. It changes adn has amendments as it moves through various times and new situations.

I hope what information I gave helps you to better understand how copyrights work in our society.

Fast Food Nation: A Review of Chapters 1-5

Over the past few months, I have been reading Fast Food Nation by Eric Schlosser. If anyone who has not read this New York Times Best Seller and is reading this blog, I recommend you to read it. This book not only explains how the individual fast food giants came to be, but also how they operate, and how they affect the world we live in today. In this blog I will explain what my opinions on chapters 1-5 of this best selling documentary.

The first chapter of the book began with the life of Carl N. Karcher. It explained how he changed from feed store employee to the founder of Carl Jr.’s fast food chain. It showed how he persevered through many tribulations to start a fast food chain from a little drive-in restaurant in Anaheim, California. Like Carl, many fast food moguls used a system of service that enabled them to deliver speedy and effective service to customers. The development was created by the McDonald brother’s which was called the Speedee Service System. This express service helped the restaurants of the day speed up there service enabling them to serve more people at a more efficient rate. This improvement of service created larger profits and growth within these restaurants.

The second chapter is what I consider a sad reality. It not only explained how Ray Kroc and Walt Disney started their businesses but also how they advertised them. The chapter described how advertisers from McDonald’s set their advertising schemes towards children. They believed that if children could convince their parents to go there continuously, they would. Unfortunately, the chain’s plan worked and led to a giant growth of the company’s profits. Schlosser said that many companies, including fast food chains are even beginning to advertise in public schools. To me, the idea of school advertising is good for funding but has a pro founding affect of our nation's childhood obesity problem. The name of the chapter “Your Trusted Friends” explains the perception that McDonald’s wants to perceive to our society, when they really only care about their profits.

Chapter three was called “Behind the Counter” for a reason. It started out in a town called Colorado Springs, CO. It explained how the town was once small and unfortunately, due to urbanization, it grew into a developmental mess. In the town, many old restaurants were being replaced by McDonald’s and Wendy’s and other fast food giants. The chapter then described the life of a McDonald’s worker. Before reading the book, I never knew how bad the situation was for employees of McDonald’s, and what they went through every day. I learned that a typical McDonald’s worker sometimes work over 8 hour days for minimum wages. Schlosser explained that some workers even have to work overtime for no pay at all. To me, that is a horrible reality. Every worker should get pay for what they did. I also discovered in the book how so many people die at these restaurants because of the poor pay and treatment of the workers. The thing that bugged me the most about this chapter was McDonald’s ability to disband worker’s unions. The employees don’t seem to have a say in anything that goes on in these fast food chains. They seem to be treated like robots more than human beings. This chapter made me sympathize the many unfortunate workers for sitting behind the counters of these businesses.

Within chapter four there seems to be a bright side of the fast food chains. Schlosser describes the story of a injured NHL hockey player who did not have much. He decided to become a Little Cesars franchisee. It helped him to pay the bills but it did not make him wealthy to any degree. In the chapter, it explained how franchising helped to expand the businesses of the fast food moguls. When I first started reading this book, I did not understand at how poorly some franchise owners are payed. Since the franchise makes the franchisee pay for all the capital to start the business, it does not have to pay the price if the restaurant fails. It puts the full brunt of the loss on the franchisee. The hockey player the book introduced at the beginning of the chapter, fell under this stipulation when Little Cesar’s corporate business began failing. If the corporate business would fail, he would lose everything. In the end, a fast food chain's employees and franchisees are the people who take the fall for a business's failure no matter if it corporate or local.

The last chapter I will discuss today is chapter five. It is called “Why the Fries Taste So Good”. It discusses how McDonald's affected the French fry industry and elevate a french fry mogul named J.R. Simplot. The chapter basically describes Simplot’s life and how his company became the supplier of McDonald’s. To me, this chapter was very interesting because it discussed how a specific potato was created solely for McDonald’s fries. Another thing that I discovered is that one of the main reasons for McDonald's choice of Simplot as a supplier was his ability for consistency of frozen potato products. Along with Simplot’s company, the book explained how two other potato companies compete for fast food restaurant contracts driving the price of potatoes down. This is good for the Fast food companies, but gives the potato farmers less income.

Of course there are many more facts in these first five chapters, but I just wanted to get the main points of the chapters to show a view of how great this book is at explaining every facet of the fast food industry.

Club Rush

On August 24, I attended Penn State Berks Orientation Club Rush and the Club Rush on September 5. During these events I discovered the many clubs that are offered at the campus. This blog will be dedicated to explaining what clubs I discovered at this event. Upon arriving at the orientation club fair, I saw the Student Activities Board. After talking to Amanda, I decided to sign up. The club involved planning the many different activities that college students enjoy like jitters, open mic night, and the club rush itself. Once I signed up for the Student Activities Board, I continued around the fair and I came to the Bowling Club stand. This was the club that I was most interested in at Berks because I knew that the competitive team was going to be traveling around the country and competing with the best in the NCAA. After talking with the coaches and hearing about the many different tournaments, I anxiously signed myself up for this club. Some of the tournaments that they planned to attend were in the cities of Indianapolis, Wichita, and Las Vegas. As I continued from the bowling club, I looked at the Blue and White Club and I decided to sign up. I decided to sign up for this club in order to learn more information about it since the representative for the club was busy. I then proceeded to the volleyball club team stand. I discovered that they met every Tuesday from 7-9 p.m. I talked about and signed up for the club even though I realized that I had to choose between this club and the Bowling Club. I continued on and found clubs like the outdoor club, the chess club, the rugby team, THON, and the campus’s student government. Even though I will probably not join some of these clubs, it was nice to meet people and see the many opportunities that Penn State has to offer. I met a few of my friends at both events and discussed what clubs they were planning to attend. I hope that the clubs that I joined will eventually provide a path for me to meet others and get more involved with the Penn State community. This experience helped me to obtain a great amount of information about many activities. I hope that all freshmen will be directed to participate in this event in the future.

On August 29th at 3:30 p.m., I attended my first class of “First Year Seminar” at Penn State Berks. My instructor was John Gallagher and my class student mentor was Amanda. This blog will be dedicated to explaining what happened during this class. When we first began the class, we discussed the syllabus and what we were going to cover during the semester. At first the curriculum seemed overwhelming, but as I read through this paper, the class seemed like it would be very interesting. I learned that most of the assignments would help us to get better acquainted with what Berks campus had to offer each one of us. This was very exciting to me since I would like to become involved in campus life. Once the syllabus was covered, the class participated in an icebreaker game. In the game, everyone said their name along with an action and gesture that described their own personality. Some of the names I heard included Magic Mike, Wonderful Walter, Delightful Dan, Jumping John, and Amazing Amanda. The only downfall to the game was that I had to memorize most of the names and adjectives, since I was one of the last to recite my name! On the positive side, the game helped me to get acquainted with my classmates and meet new people. When the game ended, we concluded class by receiving our handbooks. As time marched on this week, I found these books to be an important planning tool. This was a very enjoyable class and first week of college. Although I have wondered and stressed about what college would be like, I now look forward to an exciting and educational year at Penn State Berks. With these small and personal classes, I know my choice for Berks was the right fit for me!