As the very condensed summer English course, "Fundamentals of Writing" comes to an end, I have found blogging to be enjoyable. Perhaps not as much as Stephen, but close. I have used blogging as my reward for getting all of the rest of my homework done. Imagine that, more homework as a reward for doing homework. I know that sounds pitiful, but it was almost like posting on Facebook or surfing for fun videos on You Tube. While writing my first blog I was apprehensive. I wasn't quite sure how to strike the tone of casual professional. I made sure to satisfy the requirements of the assignment, but it took a couple of post for me to feel comfortable enough to be a bit more creative with the posts. I take all of my assignments very seriously,and wanted to do well. Because I am on Facebook, I was comfortable with the over all concept. (You didn't think I would lead you to my page, did you?) I have discovered that adding pictures and links add interest to the story. It helps advance or embellish the concept or idea I am seeking to convey. But, I didn't just stick them in there, they had to be relevant to the story. The videos were a fun element to my blog. YouTube is comprehensive in the number of videos, I have not failed to find the perfect one for my point of view. I did try to keep the videos to under four minutes in length. After that most people's attention span has reached the limit. There is some out there that is over an hour long, that's like setting up camp at your computer! Some people would have to pack a picnic lunch to watch a video that long.
I recently learned that some people blog for a living! Who knew that money is to be made from them? I was certainly behind the curve on that. Blogging helped me to know my classmates a bit more. I liked Sandi's and Ulises'. One classmate had a blog that is nothing short of an assault. I could tell who liked to blog and the ones that it was merely an assignment. The comment section was something I read and took to heart anything posted. Because I liked it so much, I made sure to leave comments on other blogs.
I liked to add pictures of different sizes to add visual appeal to my blog. My niece, Taylor had the most amazing self taken pictures on Facebook. Of course, the result is subjective. It is harder then it looks! I have recently learned a new word "selfie" to describe the act of taking a picture of yourself. I have heard that the next English class I will have also requires the students to blog. Who knows, after that class is over, I may need to re-title my blog, Sandy, The Artful Blogger!
We watched a life altering movie in English class, Food Inc. The movie was thought provoking and removed the veil that some people have over the whole food industry. I grew up near Louisville, Kentucky. Said another way, I had my early life experiences in a rural area named Fairdale. As a child, I would visit my grandparents, Vard and Shirley Duff, in a small town called Wax, Kentucky. It is on Nolin Lake, one of the most beautiful spots in a very pretty state. The rolling pasture lands are a vivid shade of green that is seen nowhere else. As the wind blows across the grass, it has a sheen of dark teal. The pastures look like wind blowing over a vast lake, with waves of grass in place of water. Occasionally bedrock will peek through the grass, like the bones of the Earth were showing. The white plank fences march down the dales as the horses thunder across the field, their coats shining like a new pennies. Heads and tails raised high, in joyous motion, racing one another for the pure sensation of having the wind in their manes.
Kentucky Bluegrass
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My grandparents had a farm and raised vegetables in a garden by the house and chickens and cows in the pasture. That's how we (the natives) say grew. We never heard anyone say they "grew" anything, they raised it. That applied to everything: children, animals and crops. They had several cows that were used for milking. The pasteurized milk bought in stores bears little resemblance to the rich, creamy raw milk that I have tasted. Grandpa would be milking the cows and we four little girls would run into the barn so he could squirt some in our open mouths. Warm milk, raw, just made, from the cow. Sometime he would miss and the milk would trickle down our chins. It was a game to us but I'm sure to Grandpa, it was hard work. As we got older, he taught us to milk a particular, gentle cow named Bessie. I know we didn't do a good job, but she didn't mind. She was glad to get rid of the weight of the milk. She would stand very still as we ineptly tried to milk her. Grandpa would take over, lightly running his hand down her fawn colored flank, and she would give a soft moo as if to say, "Thank you." I loved all the animals there, but Bessie was special to me. The barn cat was a rangy character, he always brought Grandpa a freshly killed mouse. It was as if the was paying rent for his home, the barn. He was sleek, slender and the color of a thunderstorm cloud. When we tried to pet him, it was like he knew just how long our arms were, and stayed barely beyond our reach. We asked what his name was and Grandpa replied," Cat." We started to call him Kitty, even though he had seen more than a few summers. He earned his keep by making sure that any mouse or snake would meet their maker soon after they met him. I saw him drag a emerald colored snake into the barn. It was twice as long as he was and the scales of the snake's skin glistened and sparkled in the late afternoon sun. He laid it gently down at Grandpa's feet and peered up as if to say, "Look what I found." He then turned and walked out of the barn and jumped on the fence to scan the pasture. He was ever vigilant in keeping his place in the barn safe.
One summer we went to visit Grandpa and Granny. At dinner the first night we arrived we had roast beef. Yes, it was Bessie. I didn't eat meat that night. I cried instead. I couldn't eat my friend, Bessie. When your dinner has a name, it makes it hard to enjoy it.
My aunts, Charlene and Ima Dean would go to the hen house if we were to have chicken that night. We would watch as they each would wring a chicken's neck. They would grab the chicken by the head, twirl it around and fling the chicken to the ground, head still in hand. The headless chicken would run around for a couple of seconds, then fall to the ground lifeless, as though they just realized they no longer had a head. I know that now, that sounds like a horror story, but at the time, on the farm it seemed natural. We didn't laugh, but respected the fact that the chicken gave her life so we could eat. We watched as Granny plunged the bird into boiling water to make the feathers easier to remove. We helped pluck the chicken for dinner and felt like we had contributed to the meal.
Nugget and Strip
The farm was a wonderful and smelly, messy place to visit. We knew where our food came from and how it got to the table. I just didn't name any of the animals again. I helped with peeling vegetables and in the garden, growing them so that they may be canned to last the winter. I knew farming was not pretty like the packages in the supermarket. But I would have never even suspected the ugliness of corporate farms. I buy organic when possible, but the requirements for labeling a product organic are convoluted and hard to understand. I wonder if that is on purpose. Most of the vegetables I buy are from Farmer's Markets or from the farms around the valley. I always plant a couple of tomato plants each year, as much to have a link to my past as to feed myself. To nourish the soul as well as the body.
A film that will open eyes and turn stomachs is Food Inc. It shows the abuse of animals and also the employees of the companies who manufacture food. And make no mistake, it is manufactured. The film is absolutely heart rending. Here is a taste, if you will, of the movie. It informs people of the truth in modern farming practices. The movie is a shocking reality exposure to what is really happening to the food we all eat. As I watched it, I felt that I could no longer eat meat. It was cruel in the the way the animals lived and died.The movie then showed farmers that had respect for the animals in their care and the customers they serve.
The picture most people associate to beef farms.
Reality (sadly)
DuPont is getting into the agriculture business. The competition are the chemical giants Monsanto and Dow Chemical . It should be alarming that the top chemical companies are major players in the food industry. Not agriculturalists or biologists, but chemists. Now the farmers who grow soybeans cannot save the seeds from the crops the grow. Monsanto owns the patent on the genes of the soybean plant that are resistant to their product, Round Up. This kind of monopoly has caused farmers, who have a just cause, to defend themselves against the company to be ruined financially. Not that the company was right, just able to outspend the farmers. Justice was not served, but bought. Many decisions can be justified in the name of good business decisions but are not in the interest of the greater good. Complete control over a major crop such as soybeans by one company is, or should be, a daunting thought. The implications for farmers, and the rest of the eating community (That would be everybody.) are worrisome. Without genetic diversity the crop can be wiped out with a fungus, much like the Great Potato Famine in Ireland in 1845. Soybeans are almost as important a crop now as potatoes were then. To have the future of ninety percent of the crop in one company's control is asking for disaster. The question will not be if, but one of when, will disaster strike.
Let's face it, in some point in our lives, we all will need health care. When we are ill, we don't think of technology as being important to our care. The quality of that health care may depend on the quality of the technology the hospital is using. Technology in health care is changing daily. With it comes the realization that what was standard practice just a year ago is now outdated. And the simple use of a phone will improve patient care. As I am going to school to become a nurse, this is a subject close to my heart. The way medicine is delivered is changing to become more affordable and provide individual care. As a consequence, better outcomes may be achieved. As the population ages the need for affordable health care will become critical. One hospital group that keeps current with technology is Banner Health, headquartered in Phoenix, Arizona. In addition to being close to my home, it also has the extra benefit of employing my best friend, Barb. She works in the area of giving stress tests. I hear stories from her and her co-workers about the newest innovation in giving stress test to make them safer for the patients. It is comforting to me to know that the hospital closest to me is not lagging behind in technology. I enjoy meeting her for lunch. As we walk down the halls, they are abuzz with activity. Everyone confidently going to and fro, with smiles on most faces. We are usually greeted by her supervisor and we chat for bit.The new dining room can make me forget that I am in a hospital. The whole dining experience is unbelievably lush. The food is as good, if not better then, the food I've had at fine dining establishments. The cavernous room is filled with the sounds of dishes striking one another, the hum of conversation and the occasional out burst of laughter. The savory aroma of spaghetti wafts though the room. We pass by a couple engrossed in quiet murmuring, heads almost touching. The room has the feel of happiness. It is as though people's cares have been discarded like a jacket that will be picked up on the way out of the room. No one wants to become ill, but if I should, I plan on being pampered at Banner Thunderbird Hospital. Perhaps Barb will bring me lunch.
Did You Know has several informative and entertaining videos
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The amount of time in which each technological leap occurs is getting shorter. I wonder when that statement will no longer not be true. The times we are living in is the most productive concerning technology. We have not been able to keep up in regards of attention spans and safety. Do Not Text and Drive is a web site in response to deadly crashes that have been caused by texting and driving. This is similar to the Mothers Against Drunk Driving social cause. As the technology advances society has to be proactive in preventing the very technology that enhances our lives from creating havoc. With great technology comes great responsibility. In the near future I see a nations wealth determined not by it's natural resources, but by it's technology. Health care Technology will change the way basic health care is delivered. That will cause cost to go down and the level of care to improve. The greatest promise of health care technology is in the poorest of nations. As the wealthy nations innovate new products and devices, the technology that is developed will aid in eradicating disease and improve lives around the globe. A man in South Africa delivered his child with the information he read off his smart phone. That in itself is amazing. The implications are staggering in the scope of every day living.
I have read several blogs and think blogging can be useful in several ways. It can make readers become familiar to a company or charitable cause. Blogging can also let the people in the blogger's life be aware of what's happening in the blogger's life on a regular basis. The corporate blog of McDonald's was my favorite.It was very informative and had good use of pictures to keep the reader engaged. The links to divisions in the company were easy to navigate, and gave me a new appreciation of the company's commitment to the environment. The Google Blog was well written as well. The blog that disappointed me was Best Blogs by Ken Levin, it gained my interest in the small description of the blog, but did not have a link to the blog itself. I did like the drop down menu of related blogs like, Blogs We Could do Without: however, again, no links to the actual blog. Blogs can be a medium to reach new audiences that may not read newspapers or magazines. Blogs have an immediacy that paper print lacks and therefore, may be more appealing to computer users around the world.
Self Generated Entry #1 Meet Sandy
Hi, I'm Sandy. I live in Glendale, AZ with my two dogs, Harley and Willy. They are good company to me and I feel safer having two large dogs in the house. They are the first thing any visitor sees when I open my door. Little do people know, the only danger Harley and Willy pose is licking people to death. Shh! Maybe if I could have someone dress up as a cat bugler, they might present a danger of chasing the bugler away. Otherwise, my two companion dogs are lovers, not fighters.
Willy, a standard Poodle
Harley, an Akita
My hobbies include gardening, riding my motorcycle and reading. I enjoy growing roses. I have ten bushes. My favorite is Brigadoon. It is a hybrid tea rose that smells as beautiful as it looks. It has a cream center with strawberry colored edges to the petal. I love roses. I have planted a mixed bouquet. The only color missing is blue. The cut roses in a vase on my kitchen counter are an ever changing palette of color.
I also grow tomatoes. I have never tasted a sweeter tomato than one grown in Arizona's alkaline soil.While I was growing up in Louisville, Kentucky my father would plant at least ten tomato plants. When I moved to Arizona I continued the tradition. Since we have a different growing season from Kentucky, it is a topic of conversation between Dad and me. I once nursed tomato plants through our brutal summer and they bore fruit until the next summer. The fruit was smaller but just as sweet. In Kentucky the frost kills the plants so I wanted to see if it was possible to have them for two years. My Dad was interested in my experiment with them. We both learned something new about tomato plants.
I also ride a motorcycle, one with three wheels and a V8 engine. Every one is hand made in Dyersburg, Tennessee. The make is Boss Hoss and the model is a '57 Chevy Belair. It has an automatic transmission and is very fun to drive. Driving it is not scary at all, although it looks like a monster bike, it drives well. It drives the same at 35 mph. as it does at 125 mph. I found that out the first time I drove it.
That's me in the "queen" seat, commonly referred to by a vulgar name.
I now sit in the driver's seat.
I am going to Glendale Community collage to become a nurse. I have the rare opportunity to address and hopefully correct the life long regret of not continuing my education. I enjoy going to school and meeting students of all ages. I am interested in people, I love chatting with just about everyone. I am grateful for the opportunity to further my education. I like to make each day productive. Going to school fills that want for me.
I have found the most useful tool to my blogging, spell check!
I recently learned that some people blog for a living! Who knew that money is to be made from them? I was certainly behind the curve on that. Blogging helped me to know my classmates a bit more. I liked Sandi's and Ulises'. One classmate had a blog that is nothing short of an assault. I could tell who liked to blog and the ones that it was merely an assignment. The comment section was something I read and took to heart anything posted. Because I liked it so much, I made sure to leave comments on other blogs.
