W8- O'Betty's Review

When I found out that we, as a class, were meeting at O'Betty's I had no idea what was going on. I live in the Athens area and have since I was one year old and I had never heard of it. I had no idea what kind of food it offered or what kind of atmosphere to expect. However, after a little class discussion I learned that the restaurant's main attraction was their hot dogs. While sitting in the restaurant looking around I noticed that they won several successive "Best Hog Dog in Athens" awards from the Athens News. The only thought that popped into my mind at the time was "man, Lary's Dog House needs to step it up." Because that is the only other hot dog place I could think of off the top of my head. 

I didn't eat at O'Betty's instead I fixed myself lunch before I came to class. It's not because I didn't trust what my classmates had said (that they made really good hot dogs.) The reason I didn't eat there was because, well, I am sick of hot dogs. I played baseball every spring and summer of my life from age three to twenty-one. At baseball games the only food that is consistently offered is, you guessed it, hot dogs. But not just any hot dogs. No, because it is a tradition to have hot dogs and because the hot dog tradition has formed a sort of ballpark monopoly, the hot dogs are usually pretty crappy. But it's hot, you're dirty, you're hungry and you have 20 minutes until the next game so you don't really have a choice. Long story short, or well shortened a bit, when baseball ended for me, so too did hot dog eating. 

I have no doubt O'Betty's makes good food. The smell is the restaurant didn't make me sick at all, so it wasn't full of hot dog smell. The setting though was the most surprising part. It was almost had an old gentlemen club-like feel to it. There was leopard print cloth on the booth seats, the tables as well as other places. There were also pictures of (I'm assuming) famous women of their time wearing a rather limited amount of clothing. It certainly didn't give off a family vibe, but that's probably why it's near Court Street in downtown Athens where drunk students are going to stumble in and out all the time. 

It isn't a place that I would frequent, or even go back to because of the hot dog thing, but also because it's small and very open to everyone else in the restaurant. I rarely eat in fast food places and I kind of equate the set up of the dining area to a small fast food place. Generally, if I go out to eat it's so I can talk in limited, but decent privacy with the person/people I'm eating with. This restaurant is geared more to the open (some might say obnoxious) type, like college students, which although I am a college student I don't (at least I hope I don't) fit in that stereotype. 

W7- Food Inc.

The Food Inc. documentary definitely had a lot of persuasive elements to it. The strongest in my opinion were the shots of the animals, mainly cows and how they were treated. For me to say that I am not an animal-lover is an understatement, but I don't like that animals are treated the way they are. Another persuasive element was the Joel Salatin and the other normal farmers' testimonies about how they do everything they can to succeed and not lose their livelihoods because corporations are taking over the food industry. It's never an enjoyable thing to watch someone who works so hard fail or be threatened with failure. Obviously, the mother of the deceased child was sad to see and played to my emotions.

One of the things that wasn't at all persuasive to me was the pity-party thrown in the documentary for the illegal aliens being arrested. There were quotes in the video about how it was sad how they were used by the food plants and then arrested and sent back home. One person said something about how its sad that they get used and then get sent back while the managers and people who run the companies get to stay in America. In a sense I understand that hiring illegal aliens should be punished because its against the law. However, comparing the higher-ups' in the company and the working aliens' right to stay in the country is utterly flawed logic and the documentary lost credibility with me for focusing on that as long as it did.  

Another thing I didn't find to be as persuasive as the filmmakers wanted was the video of the dead chickens and the constant shot of dead animals in production lines. To me it isn't sad that animals die for humans to eat them. There is nothing wrong with that. Everyone knows when they eat meat that an animal had to die for them to get it on their plate. I felt like the film tried to make that a sad thing and again it's just not.

One question I have about the whole concept of the film, which I interpreted as American citizens don't know what they are eating and how it's prepared and how big companies are basically making the food industry a monopoly. Is why is it that way? The film makes it seem like the food industry is run a certain way that keeps itself hidden behind a "vale." I would argue that Americans have as much of a role, if not a bigger role than the companies do in putting up that vale. Sure people don't want kids to die, or themselves to die from obesity related symptoms. But are we changing? Not much. That's because we want the vale to be there, we don't want to know just as much as the companies don't want us to know. We don't want to have to spend extra money at a local market than at Walmart because Walmart in convenient and cheaper and the food tastes just fine. So was I influenced at all by this film? No, not at all.  

W6- Open Post

I have a younger brother who is a freshman in high school and I heard someone tell him today that high school is "the best four years of your life." 

My heart sank instantly. I closed my eyes to digest what had just been said... when I realized that person wasn't God and what he said wasn't necessarily the truth at all. However, it got me thinking. 

What from high school could possibly make someone say that? I know that for some people, especially in rural areas such at Athens, people never really leave high school, never really break from the same role they played in the halls of their school. But, for the others. What could make them think high school was so great?

I look back at high school and only three bright spots are: graduating, sports and lunchtime. The first two stick out for obvious reasons, the third not so much. But let me explain. 

I was a picky eater my whole life. As a child peas were often found under my chair after dinnertime and I would gag myself just so I didn't have to eat vegetables with my meal. When I reached high school I had matured enough where those escapades no longer occurred. But, I still didn't like to try strange, school cafeteria food. After maybe a day or two of eating school lunches it became apparent that I wouldn't survive four years without changing where I got my food. 

I'm not quite sure how it happened but mom started packing my lunches, not just PB&J or lunch meat and a juice box. No, my mom went all out. She would make sure to make extras of dinner the night before. Whether it was chicken, pork, turkey or a roast there was always some left over to shred and cover in barbecue sauce for my sandwich the next day. 

As if the sandwiches weren't enough to make all the other kids jealous mom didn't stop there. I rarely went to school without some kind of baked goody in my envy-inspiring brown paper sack. No matter what it was chocolate chip cookies, snickerdoodles, no-bakes, mom's world (Federal Hocking) famous chocolate chip cookie dough brownies, they were all the rage of the lunchroom. Plus mom always sent enough that I could share a few with friends. I like to think I was decently popular because of my sense of humor, intelligence, decent looks and athletic ability and I won't completely say that those attributes didn't play a role. Maybe the reason I look back on high school without the fond memories of others is because my friendships were based on my willingness to share what mom sent in my brown paper sack.

W5- Our Fast Food Nation

America wants things fast. The faster the better. From cars to information, everything just keeps getting faster. Just look at the internet, seemingly everyone has faster internet, dial up is dead it just simply isn't fast enough. The internet shows more proof or the addiction to speed and convenience. Twitter, Facebook and even e-mail are great examples of the faster the better outlook. People no longer have to wait for the newspaper, mail, the evening news or even go to a news website to get the breaking news, it just comes to America's phones. 

The way Americans fill their stomachs is no different. Fast food restaurants like McDonalds are conveniently placed everywhere you look and you are rarely more than ten minutes away from one. But not only are they close at all times, you don't even have to get out of your car to get your food. Even when you go inside you can get your food within five minutes. That means that pretty much no matter where you are you are no more than fifteen minutes away from a rather cheap meal. Another important factor that leads to America's addiction to fast food is it takes no work. You don't have to prepare any food for your family, you can simply stop by a fast food restaurant. Because more women are working now than ever home-cooked meals are becoming more and more rare. Which, makes fast food all the more important for families.

Another factor is that Americans are driving more, traveling more and always in a hurry when they are doing it. If your family is headed to a extracurricular event, or even on vacation it is quicker and easier to stop by a fast food place on the way than it is to cook a meal and bring it along. If you are a businessperson hurrying between meetings it is hard to find time to plan out a meal, sometimes you just have to squeeze meals in whenever you can.

As a college student and part-time worker, squeezing in meals is a major factor in my life. I eat at fast food joints way more often than I would like, but when rushing between classes, work and sleeping I have to settle for whatever I can get.