Food in the media

At first I was not feeling good about this writing assignment because it was out of the ordinary. Now that I completed the free writing assignments and my first draft essay I feel confident. I wrote about how most fast food restaurants and a few other restaurants try to use different advertisements methods to target people, but at the end they are all similar. I think my paper is going to be strong and interesting for the readers. I am also looking forward for my grade on the previous writing assignment.

Food Traditions Essay 2

I struggled with this last writing assignment we had to complete. I wrote about how fast food places trap certain people into constantly eating there by promising a cheap filling meal, that in turn can cause them health problems. I was not sure what to write about and did not feel confident about my work while I was writing. Even though I feel as if my writing was satisfactory, I did not enjoy the essay. The reason could have been the transition from writing about a food tradition that holds great importance, to writing about different fast food places. However, after reading what other people wrote for their free writes I feel more confident that my paper fits into the assignment.

New Family Member

My family is anxiously awaiting the arrival of my new nephew. My sister is due within a week and any day now we will be getting the call that she has gone into labor. She is very brave as she has a thirteen month old currently and will have Irish twins in a short amount of time. I helped her and my brother in law with my nephew at the beach during the last weeks of summer and he alone is a handful. I can not even imagine the running around they are going to have to do with two babies in the house. I can not wait to meet my new nephew and my family is anxiously awaiting his birth. This also means that it will be a random weekend where my entire family will be home. All of my brothers and sisters from out of town will most likely be staying at my parent's house and it will be good to see everyone together. My mom will cook a huge dinner and we will all probably stay up late hanging out. Events like this are fun when we all get together, and this one will be especially important.

I really did not like our last free write assignments. They were pretty confusing. I was not sure what to write about at first. Then when I started I felt like every exercise I wrote was about the same thing. Today when I came to class it seemed like everyone else felt the same way but then once I started reading other peoples I found that they were some what similar to mine.

Food in the Media

Going on to assignment #2 has been difficult for me because I got suck on my free writes and I do not know what to write about. I hope as I finish my free writes the assignment itself will get clearer to me because right now I am kind of lost. I know I have to write about food in the media but I feel like I don’t know what to concentrate on. I wrote about 3 ideas that I think are related to food in the media which are calories being displayed on menus, low calorie foods and obesity relating to fast food restaurants. Those are the immediate ideas that stand out to me when I think food and media, now I have no idea what to write my 2 other free writes about. HELP!!! How is everyone else going about this topic?

Food Traditions

Before I handed in my food traditions essay I reread all my drafts and I saw the huge change. I had a hard time with this assignment because I felt like it was all over the place and a lot of the thing I said in it were not relevant enough. When I usually write an essay I make an outline with what I am going to write in each paragraph. With this essay at first I didn’t quite do that because I though it should come from the heart and didn’t know what idea to put down. But after my 1^st draft I sat down and made an outline of the strong ideas I though I put in the essay and elaborated on those instead of touching on a lot of little ideas. I do not know if I am satisfied with my final draft but I do know I put a lot of time and effort into giving it structure and making it flow and connect to my food tradition.

P.S. In my food traditions essay I wrote about my favorite dish empanadas de yucca which I love, this weekend I went home and my mother surprised me by making them for me.

Fall is my favorite Season!

I absolutely love this time of year because the leaves are so pretty when they change colors. I also enjoy the way the wind feels on my body. This time of year it is not uncommon for me to take a nice long ride in the car, usually to Vermont.
Well the first essay is now completed. I feel good about the essay I turned in. I went to the writing center today and the reviewer gave it a thumbs up. I also had a professor read it and he enjoyed it.
This class is awesome and I am truly benefitting from the peer reviews. I cannot believe how fast this semester is going so far!
There is not much sun today. I hope everyone has a nice evening. I think it is so cool to see something I wrote in print! I feel like a real writer who works for a newspaper or magazine.

Reflections

So its a Friday night and I decided to be lame and do homework. I was reading through my paper and the different versions that I have completed, and I am really surprised at how a few small changes have really improved my paper. I usually compete my work at the last minute with just enough time to proofread and edit. To be honest, I think the last time I've had multiple drafts was my 6th grade term paper. I never thought that an extra draft and more time could really make that much of a difference, but by looking at it with fresh eyes and a new perspective my paper has really evolved. I can express exactly what I need to say and take out what really does not make sense or is not necessary. Furthermore, I thought I would hate having other people read my writing, but I was pleasantly surprised. I was nervous that it would seem stupid or embarrassed by my personal stories and feelings, but everyone was really nice. They also had really great ideas on how to improve my paper that I would have never thought of. These are some reflections I've made thus far, and I'm excited to see what else I can learn to become a better writer.

Prof. Liptak, I thought it was a strong statement when you referred to the class as being active members of this world. I read that and thought to myself "I have a voice in this world and more importantly I have so many valuable thoughts, ideas and concerns I know the world could benefit positively from hearing these things from me. " Class was awesome today because my peer reviewer and I had a great discussion on how to improve our papers. All that talk about food did make me hungry. I hope everyone has a great weekend.

9/17 - I came home from school yesterday afternoon and immediately took out the first batch of drafts sent to me earlier in the day.  I like to quickly review each one of them before I take out my pencil and highlighter - give them each a quick read before articulating my responses - and while I was doing this, I was helping my eight year old son with his cursive and answering my six year old daughter's demands for how to spell things on the computer.  While certainly chaotic, all of us were reading and writing in some form - very cool!  Anyway, I was impressed with the diverse experiences expressed in each of the essays, and in spite of these incredibly different rituals, traditions, and special occasions, we are culturally bound by food.  Now that these essays are marked up with my own questions and comments, I look forward to hearing what you have to say - particularly what you want to know more about as a reader and as an active member of this world.      

9/7 - This is my first semester using "food" as the theme of the writing course. I am very excited. Having spent decades (hard to believe I can use the plural form of decade) in the restaurant business and considering myself somewhat of a foodie, I am stunned by my former ignorance of food production and distribution. By no means am I an expert now. Nor am I a fanatic. But I've done a lot of reading, traveling, and listening that has prompted me to implement small changes within my own household and at my family's restaurant, and I don't see these issues surrounding food - sustainability, humanitarianism, culture, and nutrition to name but a few - fading into the background anytime soon. Food binds all of us, and I'm interested in examining how. So, we will be sharing in written form diverse stories, opinions, and research about food, and I expect us to disagree. I also expect you to become stronger writers along the way since that is the true objective of the course. Food is merely the theme around which the writing assignments are designed. Bon appetit!