The American Way of Life Is Non Negotiable?

All year we've discussed one major topic, the American Way of Life. Before this class I used to think that the way I lived was unique to me and had no influences other then friends and family, nothing else. What I soon learned was that my whole life has basically been planned by America itself. Our own former President Bush has said that The American Way of Life is Non Negotiable, that is not as encouraging as one might think due to the fact that America is not as great as one might think. The American Way of Life may not be negotiable to people who are ignorant to what is going on, but as Schoolhouse Rock once said, "Knowledge is Power".
If we are going to make the American Way of Life negotiable, you must understand that Capitalism plays a HUGE part in the AWOL. The definition of capitalism is "an economic and social system in which individuals can maximize profits because they own the means of production." In lesser terms capitalism is a market that doesn't have government influence. The basics of capitalism is that there is a "Invisible Hand" that really controls everything that happens in capitalism. The invisible hand is the theory that conservatives use to just let things happen in the world of capitalism, no one tells anyone how to run there business or what price to sell things, the invisible hand kind of "controls" all of that and it makes things happen. When I say make things happen I really mean that it forces competition between other business. That's a good thing for the consumer because it makes it so that the companies are making better products that are cheaper to buy in order to compete with the competition. Another good aspect of capitalism is that the government has no involvement so no one tells us how much to sell or how much to buy for. The whole idea of the “Invisible Hand” came from the article titled “I, Pencil”. The main idea of the story “I, Pencil” is that the author Leonard E. Read wanted to show us that it takes so much to build one little item. Not one person can make one object, it takes people and machines all around the world helping out when making products such as a pencil. The pencil is created by the natural forces (the Invisible hand) that controls people and things and makes people trade for goods/services. The deeper idea of the article, the main idea behind the main idea I believe is Capitalism. When the pencil speaks of the people that make it and the different materials needed to make it are all simple to the main factors of capitalism. The Labor in this story are all of the people (workers) mentioned in the story such as, the miners. The land in the story would be the tree, the seeds that plant the tree etc. The capital would be the saws, and the trucks. All of this is then provided by the household which then helps the factor market. The business makes more money because of the fact that the household is providing (through taxes) the cost of making all of these products (the pencil). While they're making more money they can make more of the product and then sell it to the household. In the story the person or thing that controlled all of this was the Invisible Hand. The hand can be construed as the Profit Motive, which is the chance for businesses to make more money. People buy into capitalism because of all the goods that come out of it.
At this point I saw that the American Way of Life was based entirely on Capitalism and thought that only had to do with stuff that involved buying and selling. Then we spoke about Birth in America and I found out Capitalism played a big role in that as well. My thoughts on the whole birth process took a dramatic turn after we as a class watched the Business of Being Born. After watching that I wanted my future wife and I to have a home birth and I thought I could do a good job convincing her.
The same way I thought about Birth was the same thing I thought about health care. I used to think that everywhere it cost money for health care and that it was just something we had to deal with. After watching most of Sicko, I realized that once again Capitalism is a part of everything and that its really hurting America. People not knowing about what it is like overseas and what it really is like in other places other than America , is what is making the American Way of Life no negotiable and that is what I am trying to get away from.
Capitalism is also effecting something so simple as food. The mainstream corporate way of eating food and just the way food is done is that it’s basically fast food, convenient, easy to cook food rather then food that takes time to prepare. On TV and in movies the kind of food that is always shown are burgers, cakes, candy, fast food chains, pizza and other "junk food". It seems as if the food that is the fastest and more convenient to make is the cheapest while the healthier foods are more expensive; and that is kind of messed up because it is basically saying that it is going to cost you to be healthy in America, while they end up making money of the fast food still because when you are unhealthy you have to go to the doctor which is going to cost money and if your insurance does not cover what ever your sickness is then its going to cost even more money. It is all just a big cycle of paying sustain good health.
When I came into this class I was as ignorant as the average American. I thought the way I lived now was different from everyone while in fact it wasn’t so different at all. After taking this class I am now able to be that different American I thought I was, I am able to really know what I am eating and make the decision of what to eat and what not to eat. I can make the decision to have a home birth or a home birth or have one in a birthing center because I know have that knowledge. I can also make the decision to really move out of America based on health care reasons because of what I know now. Making sense of the American Way of Life can really be as simple as knowing about Capitalism but can be so complicated that it may never be figured out.

Final Food Assignments

Food, one of the few things that are actually necessary to survive. Sure people also "need" all of these other things to "survive" such as a computer or a cell phone but those are just material needs. I once thought of food as something so simple that did not need anything extra for it to be satisfying and enjoyable. I thought food came from happy little farms that treated there animals well until it was time to in fact get them ready to be eaten by us. When I thought that I was ignorant. I was in fact blind to what really went on when it came to food, and when I was enriched with the knowledge I have now I can see that America makes food as complicated as possible in order to maximize profits. That makes me wonder why and how they could make something so simple so complicated and I also wonder do they realize that it’s not good for the earth and us humans? Just a couple thoughts.

Some of the stuff we watched in class such as "VROOM - farming for kids" reminded me a lot of a television show that comes on cartoon network, it was also a movie; its called Barnyard. Barnyard is a cartoon that shows all kinds of animals living on a nice little farm run by this old married couple and while the old people are not tending to them they have all kinds of fun. On the farm they only have one machine and that is a tractor, the old farmer does all the work himself and takes good care of the animals. What this has in common with "VROOM..." is that they are both giving the illusion to children that farms are actually like this, not like the big corporations based on efficiency rather then a job well done. I realize that Barnyard is in fact a kid’s show and VROOM is also for kids but when if I were to watch these now I would not be able to stop thinking about the other videos I've seen such as "Our Daily Bread" and the Meatrix series. What those videos showed were the truth, they showed how the farming corporations are treating these animals terribly, not treating the workers well, and just looking very evil in general.

My family and I go grocery shopping about once every two weeks. When we go shopping we usually buy the same stuff, which is usually a variety of things. As for fruits and vegetables we buy a lot of strawberries, bananas, grapes and oranges. We buy plums and other things not as often; my father loves peanuts so we always buy at least a jar of peanuts. My family does not eat red meat so when we go shopping we buy a lot of fish, turkey and chicken. When I go to grocery stores I notice that the first thing I see are cans of sodas and bags of chips, always. Then what I see next are the fruits and vegetable section and that confuses me because its like do they want us to eat a lot of junk food or be healthy?

They way food is done in my family is it is very organized most of the time. When we have dinner we usually all eat together and make sure the table is set and the food is on the table and no one can start eating until everyone is at the table. When everyone is at the table we then say our prayers and then start eating. We also don't watch TV during dinner because it is a time where we need to speak to each other and share how are days went. I enjoy this very much because it allows me to feel connected to family, that we have at least a time of the day where we all connect. In the mornings breakfast is not like that, usually everyone is getting ready for school/work and people leave at different times so its hard to really be coordinated like dinner. For breakfast its more individual while dinner is more family orientated. On the weekends however breakfast is like the dinners, and people make different things and we all just enjoy being in each other’s company sharing a meal. When it comes to lunch that is when my food habits are more present, and from that I believe I am a mixture of the mainstream corporate way of eating and my family’s way. During lunch I prefer the fast and convenient food rather then the food that actually needs preparation, but like my family I like to be set up before actually eating the food.

I mentioned before about the mainstream corporate way of eating food and just the way food is done and that is basically fast food, convenient, easy to cook food rather then food that takes time to prepare. On TV and in movies the kind of food that is always shown are burgers, cakes, candy, fast food chains, pizza and other "junk food". It seems as if the food that is the fastest and more convenient to make is the cheapest while the healthier foods are more expensive; and that is kind of messed up because it is basically saying that it is going to cost you to be healthy in America, while they end up making money of the fast food still because when you are unhealthy you have to go to the doctor which is going to cost money and if your insurance does not cover what ever your sickness is then its going to cost even more money. It is all just a big cycle of paying sustaining good health.

Overall in the end I am just saying, its better to treat food as the simple thing it really is, don't buy into the corporate hype and eat food to really savor the flavor and not just eat mindlessly. Please know whats going into your body.

Wildman Steve Trip (Draft)

On this past Sunday I went to the extra credit trip with "WildMan" Steve Brill. He was very interesting and it made me wonder how many times I have passed by these plants and not known a thing about them. The trip allowed me to really get more interested in my surroundings when it comes to nature and such and that is a good feeling. Wildman Steve came off a bit weird and the first couple of minutes I was questioning why I was here in the first place. As the trip progressed I started to get more and more interested and wanted to collect as much as the plants as possible especially since I couldn't stay the whole trip. All in all it was a good experience and I may do it again.

Industrial Food

I watched the Meatrix and I thought it was very entertaining while educational. I thought it was a good idea how they made it because it informed people while also pertaining to they're interest because of its relation to the movie "The Matrix". What these short movies show is that the American culture treats food and animals as nothing more then a business and they would sacrifice the peoples good health just to make money. What that tells me is that American puts money before anything else; that is something I already knew but this just helped solidify the assumption because if these business men are making food the way they are now and if we keep eating it we are eventually going to die in my opinion because its horrible, it really is horrible. The fact that we can't take the time to make sure that something so simple as food is clean enough and healthy enough for us to eat then whats going to happen with the more complicated things later on in the future? Just a thought. I watched some of the animal cruelty video and I thought that video just helped prove the above statement because the way the people treated these animals were completely outrageous and I just wonder if they even think of these animals of living, breathing creatures. I was just very very disgusted.

Recipie Experience -- LATE

Will try and make it tonight when I get home, but these are restauraunt style chicken nachos:

INGREDIENTS (Nutrition)

• 2 cloves garlic, crushed
• 6 green onions, sliced, white parts and tops separated
• 3 tablespoons canola oil
• 1 shredded, cooked, whole chicken breast
• salt and pepper to taste
• 1 cup salsa
• 1/2 (12 ounce) package tortilla chips
• 1 (8 ounce) package shredded Cheddar/Monterey Jack cheese blend
• 1/2 large tomato, diced

DIRECTIONS

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C).
2. In a 12 inch skillet over medium heat, cook and stir the garlic and white parts of the green onions in canola oil until tender. Mix in shredded chicken, salt and pepper. Toss until well coated with oil. Stir in the salsa.
3. Arrange tortilla chips on a large baking sheet. Spoon the chicken mixture over tortilla chips. Top with Cheddar/Monterey Jack cheese blend and tomato. Bake in the preheated oven 10 minutes, or until cheese has melted. Remove from heat and sprinkle with green onion tops before serving.

Taken from: http://allrecipes.com/Recipe/Restaurant-Style-Chicken-Nachos/Detail.aspx

Here is how mine looked when I made it, note: I did have all of the materials

Internet Research

QUESTION: What Else Causes Obesity (besides the general eating to much)



According to the website http://www.obesityinamerica.org/, Obesity, while unhealthy diets and not excersicing are major contributers, hormones not working properly can also be a reason. Hormone disorders are those like - thyroid disorders, adrenal glands not working properly, pituatary glands and ovaries are all contributers.



According to the website

http://www.stvincent.org/ourservices/bariatrics/about/causes/default.htm

Obesity can be caused by a persons genetics, culture, emotional and psychological aspects of a person. The genetic aspects of it can basically be if a childs parents are overweight then the child will also tend to be overwieght. Also if your family has a history of obesity then you will have a 25-30% chance of being overwieght.

Food Journal

Dinner (Night Before): For dinner the night before me and my family had shrimp, rice, chicken (for those who didn't want the shrimp), mixed vegitables, and salmon. We ate at the kitchen table and we all talked. After dinner I did the dishes. I enjoyed what I was eating.

Breakfast (Today): For breakfast I had cookie crisp cereal. While eating the cereal I was watching TV because I was eating by myself while others were getting themselves together. I enjoyed what I was eating but I am not so much a fan of milk and that threw off the satisfaction a bit.

Lunch: For lunch today I had some chinease-mexican food. I ate 2 chicken soft tacos and had some pepsi to go along with it. I started getting hungry (prior to lunch) around 12 and I thought that was mainly because of the fact that I ate breakfast in the morning, if I had not eaten breakfast I most likely would have started getting hungrier earlier; maybe around 10 or 11.

Dinner: Tonight for dinner we are having ground turkey, mixed vegitables and V8 Juice, and Rice. We most likely will be eating together as a family and I will be doing the dishes as I do every night.

Grocery Store and Habitual food

My family and I go grocery shopping about once every two weeks. When we go shopping we usually buy the same stuff, which is usually a variety of things. As for fruits and vegetables we buy a lot of strawberries, bananas, grapes and oranges. We buy plums and other things not as often; my father loves peanuts so we always buy at least a jar of peanuts. My family does not eat red meat so when we go shopping we buy a lot of fish, turkey and chicken. When I go to grocery stores I notice that the first thing I see are cans of sodas and bags of chips, always. Then what I see next are the fruits and vegetable section and that confuses me because its like do they want us to eat a lot of junk food or be healthy?

My favorite meals are anything breakfast because I feel as though whenever I have a good breakfast I feel much better during the day. My family and I don't eat red meat as stated before and that I think allows us to eat a variety of foods more often then other people because we try and see what we can eat to substitute for the red meat (beef and pork). My usual diet pattern is usually what my family eats, like I don't drink a lot of soda because I grew up not being allowed to drink a lot of soda.

Food Cultures - Home & Corporation Assignment

They way food is done in my family is it is very organized most of the time. When we have dinner we usually all eat together and make sure the table is set and the food is on the table and no one can start eating until everyone is at the table. When everyone is at the table we then say our prayers and then start eating. We also don't watch TV during dinner because it is a time where we need to speak to each other and share how are days went. I enjoy this very much because it allows me to feel connected to family, that we have at least a time of the day where we all connect. In the mornings breakfast is not like that, usually everyone is getting ready for school/work and people leave at different times so its hard to really be coordinated like dinner. For breakfast its more individual while dinner is more family orientated. On the weekends however breakfast is like the dinners, and people make different things and we all just enjoy being in each others company sharing a meal. When it comes to lunch that is when my food habits are more present, and from that I believe I am a mixture of the mainstream corporate way of eating and my families way. During lunch I prefer the fast and convenient food rather then the food that actually needs preparation, but like my family I like to be set up before actually eating the food.

I mentioned before about the mainstream corporate way of eating food and just the way food is done and that is basically fast food, convenient, easy to cook food rather then food that takes time to prepare. On TV and in movies the kind of food that is always shown are burgers, cakes, candy, fast food chains, pizza and other "junk food". It seems as if the food that is the fastest and more convenient to make is the cheapest while the healthier foods are more expensive; and that is kind of messed up because it is basically saying that it is going to cost you to be healthy in America, while they end up making money of the fast food still because when you are unhealthy you have to go to the doctor which is going to cost money and if your insurance does not cover what ever your sickness is then its going to cost even more money. It is all just a big cycle of paying sustain good health.

Whats In My Fridge?

In my fridge there is:

Cool whip
Chicken
Turkey dogs
Turkey bacon
Butter
Eggs
Lactaid milk
Soy milk
Soy butter
Ice tea
Water
Green tea
Cheesecake (from a sunday party)
Shrimp with pasta

and we try to eat together as much as possible. Also dinner is the last thing we can eat for the night so if you don't have dinner then you don't eat anything for the rest of the night. My family tries to eat as healthy as possible so that we don't get sick and just to be healthy. And that's about the jist of it. I believe what my families rituals when it comes to eating meals is we pray together

Break Homework

My families experience with health care in the US has been a particularly good one. My parents have said that they have not had any problems with health care and have in fact been able to get the insurance companies to pay for every medical problem we have had. We also got them to pay for the births of me, and my sisters. No one was ever denied treatment, but we really also haven't been sick enough to really be hospitalized except for a few instances. Every doctor we've had did not worry about payment.

My experience with health care has really contrasted with the movie SiCKO and that is because in the movie everyone had bad experiences and were getting denied treatment while my family has not had to pay medical bills and even got the insurance to pay for a surgery that was not necessarily medical and that has been good for us.

AWOB - Link

Click Here To Access My Site!

Answers to Questions about Birth

1. How does having a mid-wife (or a Doula) reduce/relieve stress for the baby and/or the parents?

One couple said that having a Doula was great because of the fact that she explained everything and was very educated in her job. She didn't undermine them and she didn't take over the role of husband and that was important to the couple. So having a Doula or a mid-wife helps reduce the stress because they are very educated and help you out with any problems you are having.
http://www.babyzone.com/momtomom/stories.asp?mcid=184

2. How Many Different ways are there to give birth? (Explanations comming later?)

- Home Birth
- Natural Birth
- C-Seaction
- Free Birth
- Water Birth
- Hpno Birthing
- Non Recumbent Birthing Positions
- Chiropractics
- Reflexology
- Accupuncture and Accupressure
- Herbs
- Aromatherapy
http://www.babyzone.com/pregnancy/labor_birth/photos_ways_to_give_birth/13

Techniques for Giving Birth Questions

- How does having a mid-wife reduce stress for the baby and mother?

- How Many Different Ways are there to give birth?

-How does not liking your doctor affect the brith?

- How do the wealthy give birth?

- How do the poor give birth? (mainly reffering the homeless)

- What is the cost of a normal hospital birth?

- What is the cost of a home birth?

- What is the cost of an Epidural?

- How much will the insurance pay for birth?

My Feelings on Birth

My feelings on birth is just a very common one I believe. I think while the whole nuts and bolts of it all is very for lack of a better word, wierd the actual woman bringing a new life into the world thought is a beautiful thing. Your brining someone new into the world and you can basically raise that person to be who you want them to be (except that most of the time it backfires on you) and that thought in itself is very interesting. I think that most people tend to really think more of the after birth then the actual giving birth because of the fact that the after birth is easier to think about rather then the woman giving birth.

Birth stories (in progress)

Birth Story 1:

This is in fact my birth story, my mom went into labor around midnight, it took her about 8 1/2 hours total and my father and my aunt were the only people in the room with her (other then the doctor of course and his staff). She had the epidural and thats about it.

Birth Story 2:

When my mom gave birth to my first sister, it took her about 4 hours. She also had an epidural for her as well. The family members in the room with her were my grandmother and my father.

Birth Story 3:

When my mother gave birth to my last sister it took her 14 hours. She also had an epidural. The family members in the room with her were my aunt and my father.

For all of the births my mother was very happy. During the whole pregnancy my mother got very sick, for each of them. Giving birth wasn't that difficult and that was a blessing. It also helped that she had two fairly quick births and only one long one, but compared to some persons thats not that long.

More Then One AWOL [Big Paper Revised]

In America there is more then one way of life. People in the world often say that America is the land of the free. A white middle class woman said that the American Way of Life (or AWOL) is "To have a voice and to have the freedom to do what you want." That is a very generic response to the question, I expected that answer to that question. To me that question was very generic and average because of the fact that when most people are asked about America they never really want to go into detail because they feel it might make them seem unpatriotic. Her point of view is all about freedom, and the ability to say and feel what ever and how ever you want.

Another white middle class female also said that America is "all about having a democracy. Without democracy people would not be to be as successful as they are." This person speaks of democracy and being successful, and that being the American Way Of Life. I also think that is a generic, average response because of the fact that people are always speaking of being successful and being able to make as much money as possible. These two quotes go with the generic theme of America being free and everyone getting the chance to be successful.



An African-American Male around the age of 18 said that America "Is going to hell and full of crap because we have a president who is a jackass and we don't have the necessities that people need to live comfortably and isn't that what America is all about? Living comfortable?" This point of view is that we, as Americans, should be much better off then we are. We should be living so comfortably that we don't need to complain about things that we are complaining about now which is: education, health care, will I eat tonight?, Will I see my family tonight?. All of these things are the result of bad leadership and we need someone to change this and that starts with having a new president. That point of view I would categorize this as a view that isn't afraid to see what they think about America, and doesn't care about being unpatriotic.
Now what I've learned from these two points of view is that there are many difference views on the AWOL and if that it is good hear different views. Some people view the American Way of Life as being free and successful while others view the American Way of Life as us living a lie and not being as comfortable as we thought. The real question is, what is the true American Way of Life?

As seen in the interviews above, the American Way of Life is all about being free and being comfortable and having money. It is also all about people being selfish and not helping others out in their time of need. It is about people not realizing what they have and being grateful for it. While everyone I interviewed agreed that there were flaws in the AWOL, you can still see the differences in the answers to the questions. If to divide them you would see that there would be one group of people who think that the AWOL is all about freedom and being able to do what you want as long as you know the consequences. The other group of people would say that the AWOL is about not taking what you have for granted and also doing what’s possible to live the most comfortably you can live.

As Americans we are able to live the way we live now because of the “Highest Law of the Land” more commonly known as the Constitution. The Constitution is what shaped our Government and because of our Government we live the way we live. One specific document of the Constitution, the “Full Faith and Credit” provision is what really shapes the US government. That provision states that a law written in one state has to be respected by all the other states. A hot topic in America right now is should Gay Marriage and should it be legal. If a state wrote a law making it legal, people can go get married in that state, return to their state and they would be recognized as a married couple.

In the Constitution you can see that our rights in the first 10 amendments are the amendments of human beings, not rights given to us by the government and that’s an important thing because those help and try and show people that the US isn’t fully run by the government but if you think about it, we as people did not come up with the amendments, the government came up with them. Those being the “rights” of human beings how come there are only 10 that aren’t about government? Humans should have more than 10 amendments that aren’t created by the government and that is what the constitution should be about. The Amendments in general were a major turning point in US history. Amendments 12-15 in general helped because those have made voting into what it is today. Those Amendments changed the requirements of being an eligible voter and that makes a huge differences in what kind of President will be elected because of the different people being able to vote. Now every kind of person, people with different views, and people with different beliefs on how the country should be ran, are eligible to vote and that really changes who is chosen to run the country.

Now to one of the biggest Amendments in the US is what helped with the shaping of the American Way of Life. Amendment 13 is the one being talked about and that amendment is what abolished slavery. That Amendment is very important because it ended the most disgusting thing about America and that really made America as free as it is today. Now because of that amendment everyone has to get paid money for work and everyone is “equal” to one another.

While the Constitution is very important to the AWOL we can see that there are some contradictions which also show what the AWOL is about. Lethal Injections and/or the Electric Chair completely contradict the 8th amendment. They both contradict it because the 8th amendment states that those kinds of things shall not be deemed necessary. So the fact that this stuff still happens is a violation of the constitution which is also referred to as the "Highest Law of the Land". What that can say about our AWOL is that most Americans may say one thing but contradict it by doing the opposite of what they said.

Out of all the amendments that aren’t “Human Rights” amendments, basically amendments 11-27, the 13th amendment is the most important one in my opinion. That amendment helped America become what it is today as the land of the free and it also invited more diverse people to come to America without fear or oppression. The end of slavery also prevented a huge economical gap between the rich and the poor. While the other amendments are important, this one helped shape America into what it is today.

Aside from the interviews and the Constitution holidays are a big part of the American Way of Life. My family celebrated thanksgiving the usual way, food and family. On thanksgiving my family and most families I believe made a bunch of food on thanksgiving and people came over and everyone celebrated and had a good time. People were being entertained and everyone was talking to one another and that’s what I think part of the American Way of Life is, just people indulging themselves as much as possible in order to escape any kind of feelings of unhappiness.

An important part of Thanksgiving is a special day called Black Friday. On black Friday prices are cut to such an extent that people are willing to kill others to get what they want. What I am referring to is the Wal-Mart incident that happened on the past black Friday and that is exactly what happened. People rushed into Wal-Mart when the doors opened and killed a man and injured a couple others. What that says to me about the AWOL is that people go so crazy to buy, buy, buy and not care what happens to anyone else that gets in their way. That’s sad to me because when someone gets killed as a result of people going that extra mile just to get the “deal of the year”, that kind of stuff is not necessary. So according to this day the AWOL is about nothing but money.

During the winter break I have done mainly two things, hang out with friends and family and went shopping. Before Christmas I hung out a lot with my family and people came over my house to celebrate Christmas Eve. On Christmas day me and my family exchanged gifts and spent the day together, at night we went to another relative’s house for dinner and that was very enjoyable because I got to see people I didn't see Christmas Eve. The day after Christmas me and my family went shopping and spent about 4-5 hours doing so, it was a very enjoyable experience because I got stuff that I wanted and didn't get on Christmas. After the day of shopping more friends and family came over to my house and spent about a week here (until the day after New Years) and I enjoyed that because it was very fun.You could say that my Christmas experience was the experience of the typical American. I say this because I spent Christmas with my family, I went shopping after words and spent a lot of time with my friends and family. The typical AWOL for Christmas and New Years after speaking to different people about their own experience, was the same as mine. Everyone had the same story of opening gifts on Christmas, going shopping afterwards and spending time with families and friends nothing more, nothing out of the ordinary.

The Holidays are such an important part in the AWOL and that could mean different things. It could mean that us as Americans value family and spending time with the people we care about and that’s what the American Way of Life is all about. It could also mean that we just love accepting gifts, are phony with one another and don’t really care but don’t show it because we are afraid of what people think. Sometimes they are combined of the two, people may love spending time with their families and people they love and also just love accepting gifts and celebrating everything and going shopping and such and I believe that is the one people connect with the most.
After Barack Obama had become President I interviewed someone on the AWOL. The person I interviewed stated “Well this is hard to explain because I believe the AWOL is changing so drastically at the moment due to having a black president, us being in a recession, and no one really liking our country at all. So I would have to say that the AWOL is everyone moving towards coming goal, everyone just moving and progressing towards being someone.” I thought that was a very insightful response because not only does that make me feel like the mind set of people are changing, it actually does make me feel as though America is heading in a different direction.

Inaugurtaion Day

I thought that the Inauguration was a beautiful thing to see and it made me extremely happy. Watching Barack Obama and Joe Biden being sworn in really made me feel as though this country was actually moving towards something. If we had elected John McCain things would be the same from my perspective and I wouldn't have felt as if the country is really changing. I know that the race thing will always be a factor but with Barack being our President now i feel as though that one day everyone will be looked at as just human beings, and if we have to be judged be judged as people not by the color of our skin.

Some of what Obama said in his speach made me think about the AWOL. From what I can tell, everyone in America wants to be well liked, everyone wants to feel as though they are trusted by there "closest" friends. When Obama said that we needed to regain trust with the other nations I felt that was a true statement but I also believed that it showed how we, as Americans want to be thought off.

Marx's Analysis and Critique of Capitalism

What Marx basically says about what capitalism is, is that (reffering the vampirization) its like a vampire. Capitalism thrives on sucking the labor (the blood) of the workforce. The more labor it sucks the longer it survives. When it comes to the booms and bust in capitalism, Marks beleived that for every boom there is a bust and that will continue to happen untill the bust is so large that the economy will not be able to recover to have a boom and that will lead to capitalism falling. The bust represent basically a recession or maybe even a depression and what Marx believes is that after every recession there will be a bigger profit increase untill like i said before there will be such a big recession or depression that the system will fail.

I agree with this idea and I think it will happen, I just dont really know when the big bust will happen. I'm not completely sure if communism is really the right way to go when it comes to the way people should live and what system it should be. I believe that it may be possible to prevent that big bust if we can just figure out a way to keep Capitalism thirving and maybe just make it more fair to everyone. When I think of that idea I will be sure to publish a book about it.

Winter Break Reflection [Revised] (More Thought)

During the winter break I have done mainly two things, hang out with friends and family and went shopping. Before Christmas I hung out a lot with my family and people came over my house to celebrate Christmas Eve. On Christmas day me and my family exchanged gifts and spent the day together, at night we went to another relatives house for dinner and that was very enjoyable because I got to see people I didn't see Christmas Eve. The day after Christmas me and my family went shopping and spent about 4-5 hours doing so, it was a very enjoyable experience because I got stuff that I wanted and didn't get on Christmas. After the day of shopping more friends and family came over to my house and spent about a week here (until the day after New Years) and I enjoyed that because it was very fun.

You could say that my Christmas experience was the experience of the typical American. I say this because I spent Christmas with my family, I went shopping after words and spent a lot of time with my friends and family. The typical AWOL for Christmas and New Years after speaking to different people about there own experience, was the same as mine. Everyone had the same story of opening gifts on Christmas, going shopping afterwards and spending time with families and friends nothing more, nothing out of the ordinary.

Part C

Amendments 12, 13, 14, & 15 are often referred to as a major turning point in US government policy. Explain the importance of these amendments:

Amendments 12-15 were very important to the US government. These amendments changed the whole voting process of Americans due to these amendments changing the the requirements eligible to vote. Every person was allowed to vote by the passing of these laws and that means that there will be different outcomes of the kind of person will be president.

These amendments also shaped Americans as what we are today, not just the government. Amendment 13 abolished slavery and that was a very significant part of American History. The abolishment of slavery was very significant and it helped us become the country of "equality" that were are viewed as.

Does the 14th combine with the earlier "no religious test" clause to guarantee a vision of a diverse and equitable society with no government discrimination:

I think that the 14th amendment does promote this vision more then guarantee it. I believe that people will always judge by race and religion and thats just because of the way Americans, and people in general. You can't force someone to think a certain way just because of a law or an amendment.

Part 6:
Out of all the amendments I think that the 13th was the most impoertant because it abolished slavery and that, like stated before) really shaped this country into what people believe it is today, A free country, an equal country.