Last Exploration - Brian Klunder (I Forgot About It Edition)

While reading "The Idea of a Local Economy", the analysis of the author is eye-opening when he is discussing the hypocrisy of how we live in our modern society. "The 'environmental crisis' has happened because the human household or economy is in conflict at almost every point with the house of nature", this quote alone really opened my eyes considering how many materials we use to support our daily lives and that even solving the crisis would just put it aside instead of fixing it directly. In conclusion, the only way we can fix this economic issue is with our participation as a people, instead of relying on the businesses to have a change of heart in their practices. Like Rachel said,  "We have the power to change it which is something everyone usually tends to forget about". As much as we would love to believe that the companies will do in what is best for everyone, they will never to such a thing as long as we bear ignorance towards their controversial productive methods and because of that companies take advantage on our ignorance and have horrible practices into being an economical powerhouse in their respectful industry. We often talk about how we want to create change in our world, but rarely do we attempt to in our society. We have to take actions by our own hands if we truly want a sustainable way of living that is best for the environment and for ourselves whether it be supporting our local businesses or gather up as a community to support each other in the form of a garden.

Honestly, this part was hard. I was not sure whether or not I should discuss my passions considering my silent character. But I decided to talk about an issue that is not often discussed in our culture, it is there but it seems to be ignored by a good amount of people. My topic is about the coddling of our generation and future generations that are rising up to the plate of College and soon Adulthood. In my opinion, something that we do not seem to talk about is the coddling of students in our generation. The talk about 'Trigger Warnings' and 'Safe Places' in Colleges just seem plain wrong, considering it is the final step for many students towards becoming a independent adult and because of how the World so often throws hard curve-balls at the speed of sound it will ultimately put the students into a position of failure. Although the idea of 'Trigger Warnings' may sound helpful to those that react negatively towards certain topics, ultimately all it does prevent them further from delving into their problems and fixing them head on and cause a social constraint in their lives. If anything it is a mature way to baby someone from being able to make an independent stand on such a thing, whether good and bad. Because some people look for the best interest of others, they believe that it is for the best to not 'trigger' anyone's emotions and as such they do their best to silence any awful person that may bring out said emotions. In conclusion, some will go to very questionable actions to make the campus a safer place for them. This has resulted into people abusing this aspect of coddling and use it as a weapon against any dissenters of their opinions. Same thing with these 'Safe Spaces', to have a special area that completely deflects any controversial and horrid things that a student may experience on campus just serves to take away the student's spine and stop them from growing in this hostile planet. Not only do these things disable their way of being rational towards different opinions, but it also motivates them to never conquer their opposing forces. Instead of confronting their innermost demons these phrases enable students to just run away from them. These are the people that we will be working with in a couple of years and to know this is just depressing. As much as I would like to go further into the problem, the issue is that it runs too deep and to explain it here would become too arduous. Because it has now just began to surface on mainstream media there are some clips that I would love to share with you to better define my discussion with any of you guys that are still on.           

                                                     

 

Viewer Discretion is advised.

(To give a better understanding of what is happening in this video: Yale told the students that they moderate their own actions in response towards Halloween coming up and are given the decision to decide what costumes are appropriate for the campus. As a result, these students do their best to bully persuade a high-ranking English instructor to take action and put certain bans on any horrible costumes instead of allowing students to grow up and make their own decisions).

(A discussion between a Moderate Feminist and a Fox News-anchor over the acts of some students to someone's opinions which differentiate from each other).

Last Exploration; Rachel Nicodemus

The essay " The Idea of a Local Economy really inspired my thinking.  Just like the essay talks about, people, including myself, do not realize the destructiveness of our government. It also proved to me that people really do have the power, if we do not agree with something or like the ways things are being done, we have the power to change it which is something everyone usually tends to forget about. My favorite quote from the essay is "one does not know the history of the products that one uses..." and then goes on to ask who what, when, where, why, how questions that would be difficult for one to answer about the products he/she uses. I used that quote to tie into Brian and I's icon presentation about McDonalds. No one knows the back story behind the products but everyone continues to use them, maybe if they new  the answers they wouldn't fell the same about their everyday products and/or eating habits.

A really big issue that I believe the community STILL does not give enough attention in the issue with animal extinction. It is said that the world will experience a mass extinction period where over 50% of the worlds animals will completely die off and disappear forever!!! If we do not change our bad habits of things like increasing CO2 admissions, deforestation, and using dangerous pesticides, this event could take place in up to a minimum of just 10 years..... over 50% of the worlds organisms will go extinct...forever... in our life times... Not only will this be one of the most devastating events in the entire worlds history but it will completely alter the world, food chains will be effected, climate, ecosystems ect... the list of chain reactions is never ending. I encourage everyone to watch the 3 part documentary "Racing Extinction" by the discovery channel. It's really life changing.

Last Exploration- Jenny Kitzler

There are so many that make me relate the documentary Fresh with the article The Idea of a Local Economy. I really connected with the line, "We can't hope to solve these problems without an increase of public awareness and concern." and then goes on to say that then again it might not be the greatest idea, like a catch 22. It's so hard for local business to stay open anymore just because of things like convenience, competitive pricing, and believe it or not name brand. It's so much easier for someone to walk into Wal-mart rather than taking the time to find a local produce stand or market. Marketers place these stores in the most convenient areas purposely. Its a genius thing really, but it kills local business almost entirely. Not only do they place them in areas where everyone can get to them they then mark the items down so low that you can buy them in bulk or just in general. I know that Wal-mart, unlike most other stores, does price matching. If you see a lower price for the same item in say a Krogers or Meijers ad they will honor that price. Wal-mart and other stores carry the name brand item such as Tyson and others that I can't really think of at the moment. But a lot of times people are just buying it because of the brand that is on it, some people have the mind set if it's name brand then it must be good. I still think that in order to make a difference that we would need to come together as a society and really start to change things. Community gardens or even a community produce stand, where everyone helps not just a few people.

I feel as though something that doesn't get talked about much is passion. I have a passion for Cosmetology and Psychology. I love to make people feel better about themselves there is nothing more fulfilling than completing a hair service, turning the chair to the mirror for the first time and allowing the client to see there new transformation. I love watching them touch there new style like it's something so special. I've known since I was eight years old that is what I wanted to do when I grew up. My passion for Psychology came a little later in life, I wasn't always the best behaved child growing up and I didn't really have too many people who wanted to steer me in the right direction, but if wasn't for a select few people I wouldn't be where I am today. With my psychology degree I would like to counselor in a juvenile detention center. It's never too late to make a difference in a kids life, and I'd like to be the person that makes that difference. My point is is that people ask me everyday "Why did you pick that for a career? You won't make any money." But to me it's not about how big of a salary I get, it's about doing what I love and what makes me happy. And I feel as though growing up people weren't really told that they can do what they want and what makes them happy but instead to find the highest paying job. Yes money is essential to live on but you don't need it to be happy.

Omar Shehadeh Last Exploration

            I could not help but compare Wendell Berry's essay The Idea of a Local Economy to the Documentary "Fresh" we watched earlier in the class. Both are a call to action for people to realize the impact we are having on our environment and the docile nature people have towards it even though we are all aware of the issue. Wendell Berry immediately makes the readers address this problem stating "The problems of pollution, species extinction, loss of wilderness, loss of farmlands, loss of topsoil may still be ignored or scoffed at, but they are not denied." showing exactly what I said right as readers begin the essay. Amber points out in her exploration, that if one animal goes extinct it can disrupt an entire food chain. This would lead to other extinctions and in some cases even affects the environment the animals were living in. Another issue Wendell addresses is our reliance on companies stating that "Without prosperous local economies, the people have no power and the land no voice." and this could not be anymore correct. Our reliance on companies for everything from food to the clothing we wear are a hinderance on our current society and leaves us blind to what they are actually doing to the land we live on. If we don't rid ourselves of this dependence than nothing will change and we will continue to slowly destroy our environment and eventually this will culminate in the ending of the current society we know if we continue on the blind path we are following.

            One of the issues I feel that is not talked about enough is bullying. I really feel as if its prevalent all throughout our society and its one of those subjects that everyone sort of turns a blind eye too. One of the subjects we learned about was the columbine shooting and one of the things I noticed when researching the subject is that the kids who committed the act were seen as "outcasts". So I did further research into other school shootings and saw that the other shooters were also deemed as "outcasts" Well when someone is a outcast in society, especially in high school they are often times made fun of and bullied. I know this was the case at my high school and even in middle school. If people were more aware of how their actions made others feel and the extremes it can bring them too than maybe they wouldn't bully others. These kids who committed these atrocities were most likely bullied until they couldn't take it anymore and simply snapped. I find it hard to believe that someone would do something as extreme as these acts without being pushed into committing them first. I can admit when I was in middle school, I was one of those people who would join in on making fun of people for laughs or fun. But when I became more mature and aware of how my actions affected other people I became the person who would stick up for the kid getting picked on. One thing I would ask of anyone who is reading this is to simply stick up for anyone being picked on. If we don't address this problem of bullying that is so prevalent throughout our society than issues like columbine will never stop happening. It is not gun control that is the issue-- even though the accessibility to guns is a issue, the problem is the way we are treating each-other as humans.

The Last Exploartion from Andrea Carwile

     One of the first things I realized when reading The Idea of a Local Economy are the relationships the film Fresh shares with the writing by Berry. The farmers and Berry truly show a common goal of informing people about the needs of the local economy. Much like Allison stated, I can see the effects of large corporations on our small businesses. I have lived in Marion my entire life and I have watched restaurant after restaurant be shut down because of these large chain corporations. Locals have faced the hard reality that McDonalds will always be the cheapest option and that is how it will stay. It's a scary place. The few local places that have been able to thrive have provided great hope for Marion and the future but we must still work at creating an environment in Marion that allows for local businesses to thrive. Like Berry says "If people begin the effort to take back their own power a significant portion of their inevitable first discovery is that the 'environmental crisis' is no such thing; it is not a crisis of our environs or surroundings; it is a crisis of our lives as individuals, as family members, as community members, as citizens." We must push for growing support of our local businesses if we want to see a change.
     Whether we want to face it or not, racism is still prevalent in our world today. Being white, I wouldn't normally think about this seeing I'm not affected by this. But that is where our problem begins. I'm not saying we're telling people that we hate them because of their skin color much anymore, but what we are doing is saying suddle things to tell African Americans that it is better to be white. I see this directly in my life every time I go to visit my grandparents. They are very racist, but I somehow managed to find myself dating an African American boy. They comment things such as "Well don't you want to hang out with white people?" or "Do you think you could ever see yourself with someone who is white?" This is what sparked my realization that racism is still present. I even find myself telling my boyfriend "you're okay because you act white." This stuff is not on purpose, but we need to start asking ourselves why is it better to be white? I believe this can change if people start to realize that skin color means nothing, it is simply just a color. A human is a human.

The Last Exploration - Zeb Lucas

     Wendell Berry did a fantastic job writing "The Idea of a Local Economy." I feel that the entire chapter is not only focused on educating people on the importance of a local economy but is more so a call to action. Wendell touches upon this in saying: "The danger, in other words, is that people will think they have made a sufficient change if they have altered their 'values,' or had a 'change of heart,' or experienced a 'spiritual awakening,'" (13) In other words, wanting to do something is not enough, you have to actually do something about it. But don’t get me wrong, having a change of heart is a good thing but means nothing if you do not make an effort at changing the way things are. It may seem impossible for one person to have an actual impact, but that shows the importance of educating others on the importance of a local economy for the environment. One person may not be able to do much, but a group of like-minded individuals can definitely make an impact.
     I feel like Miguel really hit this on the head, when he said: “We assume that nature is a never ending well of renewable resources and with this false notion, it’s okay to continue going to this well, thinking it will give us resources forever.” I feel that it is important to realize that we can’t just take from nature without giving something back. Whether that means something on a small scale such as composting and growing your own produce, or something on a larger scale such as the importance of a local economy that Wendell Berry spoke about. Either way, we are responsible for taking care of the earth and not wasting our limited resources and polluting our atmosphere. We need to make a change, and that starts now.

     I’ve always had a passion for music, more than likely stemming from playing the violin at a young age. Music is something special to me, I listen to it when I am struggling to get an assignment done, looking for some form of inspiration. When I am just looking for that distraction from life. Music has the ability to completely change someone’s attitude for the better. This is one of the reasons I loved doing our presentation on Johnny Cash, it genuinely was something that I was interested in, and I absolutely loved learning more him.

Last Exploration: Joe Weingates

"The Idea of a Local Economy" is a very interesting essay that does a great and unique job at arguing about what we are doing that we think is changing a lot but is really doing very little. Specifically when he talks about people thinking they made a significant change when changing their values or something a long those lines when they've really made a change that did relatively nothing to affect anything or anybody but themselves. the quote "What has happened is that most people in our country, and apparently most people in the "developed" world, have given proxies to the corporations to produce and provide all of their food, clothing, and shelter." Wendell Berry is saying how we are relying to much on corporations to do things that we used to just do on are own or used to be a lot more inexpensive than what it is now. This really hit me because I've never thought about this since I have basically been raised by getting everything from companies but people used to do this all ourselves and it shows how lazy we have gotten since we would rather pay high prices rather than making it or raising the cattle ourselves. I agree also with Chris when he talks about the environmental harm with the exporting and importing of our goods and that when a certain area only has one thing to offer they usually sell a lot of it at a reckless pace that will really hurt the environment.

Something that is still a huge issue in the United States that has been dropped when it should be pursued until its elimination is smoking cigarettes. Every year cigarettes are killing more and more people, giving others health complications, and taking so much money from all these people. At a hefty $6.00 a pack average in Ohio it is making great profits in which the people are basically paying these companies to kill them. We are trying to make America healthier with better eating selections but that won't matter if they are all dying from lung cancer, how has this drug that has taken so many lives not been banned by the U.S. yet? We need to get cigarette out of America to truly make our nation a better place. This isn't just a problem for the smoker either, even if you are just a bystander this smoke is harming us. 42,000 people die every year from just secondhand smoke. This addiction has even caused babies to be born with health defects due to the mother not being able to stop smoking or just being open to the second hand smoke. I don't understand how we are accepting of this potent habit that has been robbing people of their lives and ones close to the smokers. These Companies are so corrupt and rich though that they can basically get away with anything they want now. I have not heard a single thing from cigarette companies saying anything about their efforts of how they are trying to make it any bit healthier. We need to ban this product for a healthier world that is still getting new addicts everyday even though everyone is educated on the harms of cigarettes. Just warning and educating the populace on these dangers aren't enough since people are still picking up this dirty habit, we need to stop this problem before it takes anymore loved ones.

Last Exploration - Emily Shearer

Part One: Right from the first page, The Idea of a Local Economy got me thinking slightly off the topic of its original points. Berry spoke about local economies, but it got me thinking about the world as a whole. He said, "we can't hope to solve these problems without an increase of public awareness and concern." From that, I started thinking about how much I hear on a day-to-day basis about the economy, global warming, and just our environment in general. It seems to me that the awareness is one half and the concern is the other half of what we need to solve problems. I see the awareness being pushed out upon people, but seeing concern is not as occurring. I am guilty of hearing about something that is meant to be important and then not really thinking twice about it, but I think that more people need to be in touch with the way the world is today. Berry goes on to say, "Our methodologies of land use have strayed from our old sympathetic attempts to imitate natural processes..." Today's world is extremely, if not almost entirely, based on the new findings in all sorts of technology, and becoming less and less so to do with nature. We are now becoming less grateful, less knowledgeable about our surroundings, and less skillful in the aspects of the natural world, as Berry stated. It really switched a light bulb in me to really want to get out from behind all the technology that we are all blessed to have in this world and get my hands dirty. I want to do things like going outside and gardening with my grandma like I did growing up, and be more involved with nature in general.

Part Two: An important issue that is often undermined is success. The topic of success is broad, but I want to talk about what makes someone successful. Someone who busks on the streets every weekend just to make a little extra cash may consider themselves to be just as successful as someone who owns their own business and can afford to live a luxurious life. Success is not counted by fortune or fame, as some may think. During my senior year of high school, my English teacher gave the class an assignment to write about three different successful people. Many spoke about athletes, movie stars, and singers. In general, they wrote about people that everybody would know, and based their popularity as success. I chose to write about people that I know personally, and explained how I thought they were successful. As a result of using the three people I did, I was told to completely start over. I was infuriated because of the time I spent on that project. The only reason I was being told to re-write it was because my teacher thought that the people I chose were not successful merely for the reason that he didn't know who they were. Success, like I said before, is not supposed to be about the number of figures you make or how many materials you own or how known you may be, and I see so often that people do not pursue what they actually want to in life just because of the fear of "not being successful." In reality, one's success relies on themselves as an individual and not the opinions of others.

Last Exploration from Chris Phillips

"The Idea of a Local Economy" was an essay unlike any other that I can remember reading. Wendell Berry takes a somewhat unique stance on what needs to be done in order for the consumer to take charge of the economy they participate in. As it stands, he says, "[the] economy is in conflict at almost every point with the household." Basically, what Berry tries to argue is that the average consumer should put emphasis on providing all of their own needs, so that they do not need to depend on a global economy in order to survive. He says that communities need to develop what he calls a "local economy," in which citizens focus on stabilizing the needs of the local area. The idea behind this is that it will ensure that the local economy is not entirely dependent on importing their goods and exporting commodities. There are many issues that arise when a global economy arises that is dependent on imports and exports, namely environmental damage. When one area has only the export of logging trees for lumber, they tend to do so irresponsibly. While I agree that local economies could be a decent solution in order to secure the needs of many communities and decrease environmental damage, the whole idea is just too abstract when compared to the way the world works today. The term "world economy" doesn't come from nowhere- every country in the world is involved, sometimes heavily, in worldwide trade. It just isn't feasible that every community or even the majority of communities halt the product of years in trade revolution.

An issue that I think needs to be talked about is the current system set in place for youth education. In the years before college, students are taught that grades are the single most important thing that they can focus on. They are ranked on their ability to follow directions from the moment that they enter gradeschool. In my opinion, the school system in many first world countries could use an entire overhaul. Education should focus on teaching kids how to think critically and analytically. It is these skills that will be most applicable, not only in college, but in the work world as well as every day life. For instance, when you think about middle school biology, what do you remember? What I remember is learning the structure of a cell, and being forced to memorize each piece of the structure. This "memorize-regurgitate-forget" style of schooling is by no means the best use of a student's time. Some might argue that introducing a range of subjects and making students follow the lesson plans can lead students to know what they are interested in, and will help them choose a career path. There are a few easy counter arguments to this point, however. First of all, I know that I don't speak for myself when I say that, by my senior year of highschool, I had absolutely no clue where I would fit in to the working world. The style of schooling I grew up with essentially taught me only how to be good at school, and not that the topics I was being taught were actually interesting. To expand on that, I think that it's very likely that there have been students who lost potential interest in a field they would have excelled in due to the unintuitive method in which it was presented to them.

Dixon Shapiro: Last Exploration

After reading "The Idea of a Local Economy," I thought that Wendell Berry was very meticulous in saying that the economy is very corrupt, from how big corporations are destroying local, small business's to how the products we get from this economy is ruining the planet's natural resources. One example of this is when she says on page three, "Wal-Mart, for example, as a large corporation...and its small competitors virtually none." She is telling us that these large corporations are putting their competitors  out of business, and then completely control their consumers by manipulating their prices to make even more money. When I read this, I became very frustrated at our country. This county was supposed to be a symbol to the rest of the world, where anyone could become anything, and that this was the land of the free and opportunity. Now I know that it is all just a lie, that the citizens of this country are slaves to these big corporations. We rely so heavily on them that they can manipulate us into doing whatever they want us to do. I also agree with what Lillie says about how we are very dependent on others to change things. Everybody should come together to solve the problems our world has. I heard recently from a TV show that goes along with this: "One person might not have 100% of the solution, but if you have 100 people with 1% of the solution..." (Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D., season 1).

I would like to talk about how our society has been reducing the number of things everybody reads. I truly believe that people should read more, and not just watch TV. Even I will admit that it's sometimes easier to just watch something instead of reading a book, but there are somethings that a movie can't do that a book can. With a book, you can imagine a person that completely matches the descriptions you read in a book. In a movie, you sometimes have to suffer through a bad casting. Let's face it, nobody liked Kristen Stewart as Bella Swan in the Twilight movies (Yes, I have read all of the books. Don't judge me, it's not the story that made me read it, it was Stephenie Meyer's incredible writing skills). Also, a lot of popular movies were based on books, and there are only a few movies in the world that do not completely ruin the name of the book they based the movie on. One of these few exceptions are the Harry Potter movies (not all of them, I mostly meant the first movie. All of the others are debatable.) and the Marvel superhero movies (even though it's based on comic books, and not actual novels) (Except for Iron Man 2,3, Thor, Thor 2, and anything before the first Iron Man movie, and don't get me started on the movies owned by Fox and Sony). If you want an example of the worst movie based on a novel, look no further than the Eragon movie (I am literally gagging here. That was the worst movie I had ever seen based on a novel). As for a comic book origin, the most recent Fantastic 4 movie takes the prize (worst 2.5 hours I have ever spent in my entire life. If I could erase the memories I have of that movie, I would do it in a heartbeat). Why would anybody set themselves up for disappointment when you can just read the original book that made people want to make a movie out of? I really hope some people will reconsider their viewpoints on books. It is one of greatest paths anybody can take to a whole new world of imagination and creativity.

To those of you who are interested, I recommend these books:
                    The Harry Potter series, the Eragon series, the Twilight series, and the book "Ready Player One"

These Authors too:
                    Rick Riordan, (read his books by chronological release date, oldest to most recent. Otherwise some things won't make a lot of sense) and Brandon Sanderson (start with the Mistborn books. They're his best works in my opinion)

Last Exploration: Lillie Weber

When I first began to read "The Idea of a Local Economy", I was not entirely sure if I would enjoy reading the essay. As it went on I really became interested when Wendell Berry stated, "We have assumed increasingly over the last five hundred years that nature is merely a supply of 'raw materials,' and that we may safely posses those materials merely by taking them"and then later on stating, "... a proper concern for nature and our use of nature must be practiced not by our proxy-holders, but by ourselves. A change of heart or of values without a practice is only another pointless luxury of a passively consumptive way of life". Those two quotes really made me stop and think about how we are depending on others to change things, instead of taking control ourselves. Many ignore the problems of just using up all the raw materials and pretend that the problem does not exist.  I agree with Amber when she said, " A lot of these problems are major problems in our country and people know they are deep down but still ignore them like they aren't there and I don't really know why."  People ignore the bad things that happen everyday and it blows my mind how they can just walk away and pretend it's not happening. Or even when people pretend to care about what's happening, and do nothing about it.

One topic that I believe is ignored is mistreatment in nursing homes. Having a grandmother that had to be in a nursing home for a few months, I had noticed and experienced things that I never thought possible in such a trusted place. Many residents seemed dirty, unhappy, moved roughly, and did not enjoy life at all. One day, my grandmother fell and they didn't even document it. Next thing we know, she had to be rushed to the ER. After seeing such horrible treatment in that nursing home, I decided that I wanted to make a difference and take care of the elderly the way they deserve to be treated. I am currently a PCA (personal care assistant). At the place I work at, things are so different than the place my grandmother resided. The other PCA's and I, along with the nurses, take the best care of every single person. Even if they are bitter, even if they can't do anything for themselves and need everything done with them, we still walk into their room with smiles on our faces because they deserve to be treated with respect. Many are veterans, or wives of veterans. Some places seem to forget that they were people before they lost their memory, and that's what causes abuse in the homes. People work at these places when they are not right for the job, get frustrated, and lash out on the residents. Falls go undocumented, which could potentially kill a resident. Many things are wrong within the systems of the nursing homes, and a lot of people don't pay attention to it when they put their loved ones in them.

The Last Exploration by Miguel Radilla

The Idea of a Local Economy is an article that exposes the inconvenient truths and realities about our consumerism at large which results in repercussions to the world we pertain to. It starts out going straight to point where Wendell Berry mentions, “We have assumed increasingly over the last five hundred years that nature is merely a supply of raw materials, and that we may safely possess those materials.”  We assume that nature is this never ending well of renewable resources and with this false notion, it’s okay to continue going to this well, thinking it will give us resources forever.  This type of consumerism is prevalent in the develop world because most of us who pertain to the develop world have indirectly forfeited a skill that is thought to be not important, which is the skill of being able use nature- “Our methodologies of land use have strayed from old sympathetic attempts to imitate natural processes, and have come more and more to resemble the methodology of mining, even as mining itself has become more technologically powerful and more brutal.” The develop world has traded this skill of being able to use nature properly because we rely on big corporations to provide us with products that are feasible to acquire at our convenience as well at an ideal price. These powerful entities (Corporations) provide us with everything we need at an ideal price is the result of predatory pricing because they can afford losses in intent to drive out small /local businesses in the marketplace supplanting competitions anywhere they go. For example Berry states “Wal-Mart is a corporation “freely” competing against local, privately owned businesses has virtually all the freedom, and its small competitors virtually none.”  My stance on this article is that I wholeheartedly agree on what it stance for. It pushes for us to support our local economy instead of being stuck in this inescapable magnetic field that are big corporations that only seek to fill their own pockets. The question is that are we willing as a society to change our paradigm? Do we just continue to live in a world where the beautiful lie is better than the inconvenient truth? It starts with us in having a say and a voice to our local economy on fighting big corporate businesses on having legislation to prohibits big entities taking control of our local economies. We can continue living in this façade we call the beautiful lie, but once the resources are squandered, this façade will break exposing the harsh truth and it’ll be too late.
 Brian makes great point on saying that it’s easy to live in a bliss ignorant world where “people know these problems exist but they choose to ignore these problems. If these problems are not directly hurting them in their lives, they do not think they have to do anything about it because it’s benefiting them now.”

I enjoyed the part of class where we listened to Dub FX.  I wish there had been a project where we chose an artist or genre of music that we love and explaining to our peers why this genre or artist is special to us. This project could include favorite meaningful lyrics, and explaining your interpretation of the lyrics. Also explaining the culture and paradigm behind the genre and artist. Also breaking certain stereotypes and prejudice thoughts behind certain types of music. I feel music is really important, and for example, if you guys have any songs or artist in particular that have special meaning to you, I would be happy to listen to them. Listening to people’s favorite songs or music can really give you an insight to what this person is going through because I believe the music we listen to fits well to what a person is likely going through.

This class was my by far my favorite class of the whole semester. Established great relationships and everybody was super cool. I know I didn’t establish some relationships with some of you, but I still learned things about each of you that I had not known. Good luck to everyone!

The Last Exploration- My Thoughts On " The Idea of a Local Economy".

This essay was very well written. Through out the essay Wendell Berry spoke about how the cooperation are effecting the world. I agree with what Amber wrote in her exploration. " A lot of these problems are major problems in our country and people know they are deep down but still ignore them like they aren't there and I don't know why." It is true we do ignore problems that we have here and we know that they could very well be fixed if we really wanted them too. If more people spoke up instead of hiding in silence we could change a lot of things. " What has happened is that most people in our country, and apparently most people in the "developed" world, have given proxies to the corporations or governments to provide entertainment, education, child care, care of the sick and the elderly, and many other kinds of "service" that once were carried on informally and inexpensively by individuals or households or communities" was a line written in the essay that I thought provided a huge point in the essay. We used to not have all the huge businesses like Walmart, Kroger, or Meijer. People used to have to go out to local grocery stores or downtown if they needed something else. We use to be a nation that did things on our own. We had skills and did not have to depend on other people to do them.  Instead of now having one person that does something it seems to take a whole business. People seem to be letting themselves go down a path that if we do not change it will not get better.

A huge issue that I think is very downplayed in our culture is eating disorders. I do not remember in school ever having a day where we just discussed the signs and symptoms of eating disorders. We also never talked about the treatment for them and how family members can help someone who is suffering from an eating disorder. One of the hardest things my family went through was the death of my cousin. She had Anorexia most of her life and died from it at the age of twenty eight. She did not know that there were millions of other people who suffered from the same horrible thing she did. Her parents did not know how to find her help and when they did it would be too late. She passed away a couple of days before she was to go into treatment. Her eating disorder had gotten so bad though that most people could not help her because they were not equipped to give her the medical attention that she would need. There should be more centers all over to help those that are in  the very worst shape.

The Last Exploration - Allison Clark

The Last Exploration

The Idea of a Local Economy

As I was reading The Idea of a Local Economy, I found myself confused at some points with the terminology. Personally, I'm not one that is up to date or even acquainted with what's happening with the economy now, but I do my best to stay somewhat aware of it. Throughout the whole essay, I definitely found myself agreeing with hat Berry had to say, and his views. Living in Delaware, Ohio, I can really connect and agree with how he feels about local businesses, simply because we have so many here. Our downtown really thrives on it. We have businesses like Son of Thurman and the Bare Bowl, that really bring our community together. This also ensures that the money stays within our community as well. Berry says "Without prosperous local economies, the people have no power and the land no voice." (p.33) With a Walmart and McDonald's right down the road from our prosperous downtown, its scary at times that big business is only trying to break it down, and benefit for themselves. Like Brian says in his exploration, its extremely selfish of these businesses to do this only for their gain. It not only effects local business, but the environment as well, which is extremely alarming. Berry speaks the importance of this struggle in his essay, that I find very important.   

My Own Thoughts

Something that I think is under appreciated in our society today is the appreciation for history, and everything that came before us. While many think this includes the long hour one spent in their history class learning about the Indians or the signing of the Declaration of Independence, that's not all it is. Being a history major, I may have a biased opinion to how interesting the subjects are but definitely not the importance that they have to our society now. If we take the time to look back, we can learn so much. Believe or not, history repeats itself in so many ways. We as a society often fail a second or third time because we don't take the time to look back and learn from the mistakes that those before us have made. For an example, if Adolph Hitler had taken the time to look back in history, he may have won the war (not a good thing in retrospect but for him it would have been). The tactic that brought Hitler's reign to an end was fighting a two front war against Russia. This caused his forces to be weak and easily taken down. Before his time, a man named Napoleon Bonaparte did the exact same thing, resulting to the end of his reign as well. It seems silly that we could fix a lot of problems in our society, or at least begin to, by simply looking back in time and taking notes from the mistakes those generations made in the same situation. Society in theory never really changes, it merely evolves. It's like we're in a test and we have the answer sheet in our hands but we choose not to use it. It doesn't have to be interesting but it is important that we know he significance that our history has to our society now. 

Brian Hageman- Last Exploration

Part One: First off, I like how this essay is from a neutral standpoint. I think it gives the essay more credibility because there is little bias, and more facts. The opening paragraph dresses the problem immediately. Wendell Berry says "The problem of pollution, species extinction, loss of wilderness, loss of farmland, loss of topsoil may still be ignored or scoffed at, but they are not denied." I really like how he starts the essay out like this. I completely agree with him, too. There is no denying that we use the land like it is entirely renewable, which is not true. People know these problems exist but they choose to ignore these problems. If these problems are not directly effecting them in their current lives, they do not think they have to do anything about it because it benefitting them right now, but that's not right. Along with Berry, I wish that some people would realize that the world keeps spinning after they are gone. It's downright selfish to exterminate the land mindlessly for their benefit. Charlie brought up the point that these large corporations only care about what benefits them, and if they are bringing in revenue, they are happy no matter what. The goal of a business is to make as much money as possible, but this does not mean they have to destroy everything in their path to riches. To make as much money as possible should be taken as making as much money as possible without being entirely self-consumed and ignorant to what is around them. There is nothing wrong with being large and successful, but if your destroying local businesses and local economies in the process, that it wrong.

Part Two: I would like to talk about hip-hop music and the bad "rap" it receives. Before I got started, I want to to clear up the difference between rap music and hip-hop music. What is on the radio today is rap music. Drugs, sex, and money is rap, a more mainstream sub-genre that branched off of hip-hop. I am not talking about rap, I am talking about hip-hop. I have nothing against anyone that listens to Lil Wayne and Young Thug, but that's rap, not hip-hop. In my opinion, real music is music that portrays a message of positivity or reality, or joins a group of people together that relate to the music, and that can be any genre. There are plenty of genres out there that do this, and I respect any artist that encourages something good or raises awareness. It seems like most people think hip-hop is a genre of music that portrays no positivity, and glorifies illegal activity. I can't blame them, though, everything they hear on the radio does glorify these things. Songs that are made from the heart instead of the billboard top charts are usually the best ones. One of my favorites is a song called Mom Praying by Beanie Sigel and Scarface. This is a song about giving thanks to those who raised them. Both artists continually thank their mom and grandmother for all they did to raise them into men. I like this song because it is genuine. They really mean what they are saying, it's from the heart. I really wish that songs like these could be played on the radio instead of songs that glorify all the wrong things. As KRS-ONE said "We gotta think about the children we're bringing up, when hip and hop means intelligence springing up, we singing what? Sickness, hatred, ignorance and poverty or health, love, awareness and wealth, follow me."

Last Exploration: Amanda Chirico

Reading Wendell Berry’s essay “The Idea of a Local Economy” was a bit eye opening for me. I found myself agreeing with many things he discussed throughout the essay. He did a good job giving facts and having evidence to back up the facts. He also brings up some points that were discussed in the short film “Fresh” which I thought was interesting. I found it interesting how he laid out this essay, starting with “environmental crisis” and giving his opinion, to going on to  “free market” economy, then to the “global economy” and finally ending with, what he says is the only good way for someone to protect themselves the “local economy”. I like what he said at the end of page 32, “They thus became helplessly dependent on an economy over which they had no control. Such was the fait of the native people under the African colonialism of Schweitzer’s time. Such is, and can only be, the fate of the native people under the global colonialism of are time”(Berry). Charlie and Amber I agree with you guys on how corporations don’t care about the problems that exist. All they want is the money, like Charlie said if they can survive and grow, their happy.

An issue that doesn’t get discussed enough or even ever for that matter, would have to be, how long you have to wait in a Costco line to check out. Now for some of you who’ve never been to Costco before it’s basically this huge warehouse with literally anything and everything you could ever want or need. Most items are sold in bulk so you don’t have to purchase them every time you turn around, and that’s part of the the problem just yesterday when I was there to purchase only two cases of water I found myself waiting behind someone who was purchasing no joke, 90 cartons of strawberries. They had three carts full of strawberries and I had two cases of water. Now maybe it was my mistake to get behind them but to my defense all the other lines were much, much longer and I felt well this shouldn’t take to long. So as I was waiting for what felt like forever for these people to get their 90 cartons of strawberries cheeked out I though, Costco lines are ridiculous. Now that wasn’t the first time I ever thought that before, it happens ever time I ever go there. I find myself waiting longer to checkout then I am shopping around. The workers try and go as fast as they can but sometimes well most of the time it’s just not fast enough. I guess what I’m trying to say is Costco needs to do something about there long lines before people like me go crazy!!! I hope this could make you laugh or maybe you could even relate to it, I don’t know, I just really couldn’t think of anything else to write about. :)

Blue Skies, Black Days Last Exploration From Charlie

      This was an very interesting and wonderfully written essay. I found myself agreeing to what he had to say about our society drift away from self maintenance and it interested me that there has been a huge swing from the domestic style of living and the industrial style of living in a very short period of time. With the birth of the industrial revolution in the 18th century (only three centuries ago) we found a better way to produce things more easily. 
     At the time, like most things, this was just a benefit aiding those who could not produce what they needed or allowed for alternative activities. The cost would come later in the form of social capital as Robert Putnam writes about in his essay "Bowling Alone." We supposedly no longer need each others' support and can project ourselves as an island, something that is  not logical. We have other supposed better ways to acquire things. Things provided by corporations. This boon has been gained but it has crippled us beyond the marginal benefit acquired. 
     I think that Wendell Berry points out a very scary point in "The Ideals of A Local Economy" when he says that "Our Major economic practice, in short, is to delegate the practice to others." (13) As a child, I did not realize that not all made things came from a store. I learned to trust the professional, the ... wait ... the people employed by the "machine". If you tried to call the corporation to come to your house personally, it cannot show up, because it is not made of flesh but of a ideal to "which a number of persons have sold their moral allegiance." (22) In essence its a justified form of slavery. I do understand that supply and demand are interrelated and that the best practice for profit is to buy low and sell high; but cheap is cheap and you get what you pay for. If we cheaply build people up you are going to have a cardboard society! Where everything relational is collapsible and sell-able. Now if it was a minor practice I think that we would not have lost as many of our "hand" skills or our craftsmanship.  Craftsmanship being the art embedded with the simple construction.
     Now imagine this, you have acquired a tooth brush and tooth paste and are now ready to brush your teeth. Instead of you doing this simple task, a corporate employee comes in and brushes your teeth for you. With your mouth full of bubbles you are unable to talk to this individual, a basic interaction. To the system, you are supporting the local economy by feeding the system through your purchases and by providing someone a job. The real question is who is this person and how much are they being paid to care for you?
     How did they get there, or better yet what is their name? Congratulations, your now supporting a system where the human life is a number. They have no names for acknowledgement but for tracking purpose only. We need to reach out to the neighbors that we have and realize that the neighbor across town is just as viable as the one next door. We live in a time where we can honestly not know how previous generations survived. Soon we will all have just popped up out of the ground with computers in hand.
    I think that, as Amber pointed out in her response, the corporation does not care what problems exist. As long as it can survive and grow, it is happy. Ignorance is bliss, right? It sees the cliff, and as long as it can benefit from anything, it will drive us and itself off of it. We need to make its stock holders care differently. This is the only true change.

    I'm not saying to go cold turkey or that a corporation has no use. What I am saying is that it should work for us, it came from our ideals. Let have the Jabberwocky plow our fields and play second fiddle. Like any one else that is a "person" it must earn its place through respect to others and hard work.


Part Two:

        I have the hobby of woodworking. It is something that has been around for a while, but beyond wood crafting magazines, it is seldom talked about locally. I think that wood craft stands in the center of all imagination. Without at least a form of it, we would not have frame works for canvases or paper for watercolor. Its presence can be seen from toys like Lincoln logs, to fine furniture, to our houses within Marion, Ohio.
     Like any craft it has its technicalities as well as its flairs. When combined, we make a craftsmanship piece, the perfect balance between logistics and art appears. I guess what I'm trying to say is that it is not simply enough to work, but to touch that work with our personality gearing it toward being a betterment to the world. Why tear something up when you can offer a launching pad to the next invention or next wave of knowledge? We would be far worse off if we did not have the "builders" of society's betterment like Marie Curry or Leonardo Da Vinci.
      I am a nontraditional student with "real life" experience, you may over look my opinion if you wish. Just remember that when this ideal starts to creep up on you as you age, you are not the first one to think this way as I am not either, nor will you and I be the only ones not listened to. With grace and dignity, reach to those who do listen and don't chose not to reach out when once bitten, twice shy becomes a reality. Build, don't destroy. 

Last Exploration: My Thoughts Amber McLaughlin

I learned a lot from "The Idea of a Local Economy." My personal favorite part of the essay is when Berry talks about the type of person you need to be in order to shop in a total economy. I thought their description was blunt and kind of funny at the same time. First time reading the essay I was very confused but after reading it a couple times I was able to catch on to what Berry was saying and the point trying to be made. I'm not a big economy person so I don't necessarily agree or disagree with what Barry wrote but one quote that stuck out to me was "The problems of pollution, species extinction, loss of wilderness, loss of farmland, loss of topsoil may still be ignored or scoffed at, but they are not denied." This particularly stuck out to me because it is so true, and goes along with what Mike was saying in class when talking about the new group he would like to make on campus. A lot of these problems are major problems in our country and people know they are deep down but still ignore them like they aren't there and I don't really know why. If we lose a species of an animal it messes with the whole food chain and then causes more species to die off. The loss of farmland affects our society because if farmers don't have land to grow then they can't grow crops and that puts a damper on our food chain and how we as humans eat and cook. So if I grabbed anything out of this essay I would have to say that paragraph and the paragraph following really hit me.

To me an issue that isn't discussed enough in our culture would be the use of chemotherapy on cancer patients. Growing up with a mom that had cancer my whole life up until the age of 12 I seen first hand what it does to a person. The patient suffers a lot undergoing chemotherapy and in the bigger scheme of things for no good reason. There is no guarantee that the chemotherapy will get rid of the patient's cancer, it just gives you a longer time to live. The point of chemotherapy is to kill the cancer cells, but chemotherapy kills cells at such a rapid pace that it also kills the patient undergoing its healthy cells too, which to me hurts the patient more than helps them. Also it causes many side effects that come with chemotherapy like not being able to eat and nausea for just a few examples. So in the end it really is a choice of preference and belief, but to me there has to be better ways out there to help cancer patients.

Comments for Andrea and Amanda: Ellis Island/SOL

For your comments on Presentations:

First, write about something well done.  What did you learn from this group?  What part of the Presentation seemed the best?  Be specific.

Second, offer constructive criticism that would help this group. What might have been more clear?  What part of the Presentation seemed the least polished?  Be specific.

Post all comments for this group below this post, please, as we all need feedback, and it's valuable.

Comments for MIquel and Charlie: the LIberty Bell

For your comments on Presentations:

First, write about something well done.  What did you learn from this group?  What part of the Presentation seemed the best?  Be specific.

Second, offer constructive criticism that would help this group. What might have been more clear?  What part of the Presentation seemed the least polished?  Be specific.

Post all comments for this group below this post, please, as we all need feedback, and it's valuable.

Comments for NIcle and Brayden: Malcolm X

For your comments on Presentations:

First, write about something well done.  What did you learn from this group?  What part of the Presentation seemed the best?  Be specific.

Second, offer constructive criticism that would help this group. What might have been more clear?  What part of the Presentation seemed the least polished?  Be specific.

Post all comments for this group below this post, please, as we all need feedback, and it's valuable.

Comments for Rachel and Brian: The Golen Arches

For your comments on Presentations:

First, write about something well done.  What did you learn from this group?  What part of the Presentation seemed the best?  Be specific.

Second, offer constructive criticism that would help this group. What might have been more clear?  What part of the Presentation seemed the least polished?  Be specific.

Post all comments for this group below this post, please, as we all need feedback, and it's valuable.

Johnny Cash - Hurt

Here is the Johnny Cash video that we attempted to play yesterday if anyone is interested in watching it.

Comments for Jared and Lillie: Hurricane Katrina

For your comments on Presentations:

First, write about something well done.  What did you learn from this group?  What part of the Presentation seemed the best?  Be specific.

Second, offer constructive criticism that would help this group. What might have been more clear?  What part of the Presentation seemed the least polished?  Be specific.

Post all comments for this group below this post, please, as we all need feedback, and it's valuable.

Comments for Jenny and Abby: Wizard of Oz

For your comments on Presentations:

First, write about something well done.  What did you learn from this group?  What part of the Presentation seemed the best?  Be specific.

Second, offer constructive criticism that would help this group. What might have been more clear?  What part of the Presentation seemed the least polished?  Be specific.

Post all comments for this group below this post, please, as we all need feedback, and it's valuable.

Comments for Omar and Zeb: Johnny Cash

For your comments on Presentations:

First, write about something well done.  What did you learn from this group?  What part of the Presentation seemed the best?  Be specific.

Second, offer constructive criticism that would help this group. What might have been more clear?  What part of the Presentation seemed the least polished?  Be specific.

Post all comments for this group below this post, please, as we all need feedback, and it's valuable.