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.