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.