1 Deven LapidarioLarson Period 23-9-2017Dear Reader,I am Deven Lapidario, I had written this paper for my English class. I did not spend asmuch time as I usually do on a multi-genre project for this one in particular. Though I did notspend that amount of time, I believe it will still be substantial enough for the informational andentertainment usage of the paper. Personally I found the food menu for a family the mostenjoyable, as it was a very real and very possible diet and menu that a family could live off ofhealthily and enjoyably for a low cost. I am the most proud of the research paper, as I found itastonishing that I was able to find a piece of the food companies that I actually did not like at all.Since I am not against corporations or the supposed “mishandling” of food, I was surprised tofind I did not like the usage of artificial dyes at all.This project was a very easy project, as opposed to my usual writing assignments andother research papers to be very honest. The hardest part was the creative piece, because Inormally write essays and normal papers, not creative type works. I found the research paper theleast enjoyable, simply because it was tedious but not difficult. Personally the other food genreitems other than the research paper were very enjoyable, giving more creative freedom combinedwith normal writing. I’d definitely take out the Food Log as an option, because I found that was just an option that was too easy and it did not require a substantial amount of effort or research.To this day after having seen Food Inc. three times and having written three differentreports on it, I still find very little wrong with the food industry. Only recently have I found Food 2 Inc. to be a very anti-capitalistic, idealistic, and communistic film. The filmmakers did a veryvery good job at being convincing to those who are not educated on economics and politics. Inall honesty having seen the movie many times I didn’t find it particularly good or useful asidefrom at times redundant and illogical. This was a much simpler and less enjoyable research multigenre report that I have done. I prefer the genre artifacts for this, as my traditional research paperwould be a very lengthy paper about the anti-capitalistic culture of these types of films.I came away with a new look on this film being a very very leftist propaganda filmagainst corporations and capitalism. For a reader reading this, I would have to say this is a wellmade film that does a very good job of convincing people but at the same time I would say golearn about economics and politics and why this film and its motives are not good for society.This project was overall alright, had I had more freedom on topics as in not having to be foodrelated I probably would have written another 22 page multi genre with a 15 minute long powerpoint presentation on a completely different topic.Auf wiedersehen,Deven Lapidario3-9-2017 |
Deven LapidarioPeriod 2 Dear Abby,My kids are slobs and they only want to eat fast food. They refuse to eat anything I make anddemand so much of me without so much as a please or a thank you. How can I get them to, at thevery least eat healthier?Sincerely,A Distraught Mother Well ADM to start your children are like this, because you let them act as such. You don’tseem to have said “no” to them, or demanded they be polite and courteous. As for food choices, theyrefuse because you give them the power to by not instilling that value of being able to handle beingtold no. If you want your kids to eat healthy, to be polite, and to be respectable you are going tohave to tell them “no” , demand they act a certain way, and force them to eat healthy by putting your foot down. A no nonsense type policy against children works well in disciplining them, and byenforcing good values in health and actions it will benefit both them and you in the long run. It’stime you say “no” to not only the junk food, but to your kids as well and set them on a path to eathealthy and to be respectable people in society. It’s up to you now, you just need to discipline themfor these changes to occur.With love,Abby Van Buren |
1.In the film, union organizer Eduardo Pena says, "We want to pay the cheapest price for our food.We don't understand that it comes at a price." Do you agree or disagree with him? What evidencedo you see in the film that led you to agree or disagree? What evidence do you see in your lifethat informs your position as well? No, I can’t agree especially with a union organizer. The film is very biased, and locked into an anti-capitalisticideology, showing the “evils” of the corporations mass producing food and handling them in a “poor” manner. 2.You’ve seen in the film how the production of some of the meat we eat affects the workersinvolved in the production. It portrays these people as having no choice because farmers in othercountries can no longer farm as a result of our food system. Assuming it is true that there aren’tlocal people to do this work, do you think companies have the right to recruit foreign workers tocome into the country, as you saw in the film? What do you think of that? They have no right to recruit foreign workers and illegally immigrate them to the United States, these people shouldbe legally immigrating or working in their own country. I think of it very poorly and can not support the practice. 3.What alternative might the companies have if they can’t find local people to do the work? Ideally, they’d start another factory or office in a country that does have people in need of work, and import their own goods. 4.When a person chooses to eat meat, who else does that decision affect? Aside from the families and wallets of the people working at the supermarket, working in delivery, working in thefactory, and working in corn growth and delivery, no one but themselves. 5.What might people do to make sure that their eating meat does not harm other people oranimals? They can absolutely go out and buy from grass fed farms, but in reality they are only causing more pain, by reducingthe money that could be going to the people working in those factories. 6.Slaughterhouse workers may earn as little as $8 an hour to do the work shown in the film.3 Forhow much money would you be willing to do this work? What else might you demand? I’d do it for as much as they would pay me if I was desperate, I would try and better myself and rise in the ranks of thecompany to gain a better position with better pay. I would demand nothing else, because I am in no position to demandanything of them. 7.Author Michael Pollan uses the phrase “Vote with Your Fork” to mean that consumers have theability to influence companies by what they choose to eat. Is there a way as a group, school, ortown that we could possibly influence this situation? They could probably go and deny to purchase saidproducts, while they probably hypocritically will argue against its “inhumanity”. 8.Whether or not you think illegal immigration (or the influx of undocumented workers) is a problem,how is illegal immigration connected to the food we eat? It is indeed connected, through illegal trafficking of illegal aliens across the borders from various countries to work insaid factories. I believe that needs to be cracked down on. 9.How, or does, this issue play a role in your research topic? Is this something you could add toyour research and, ultimately, your argument? Explain. It doesn’t. My research is solely reliant on the health effects of color dyes and liquids from concentrate. It has nothingto do with the actual process. 10.What one thing stood out to you today from today's chapter? Explain your thoughts. Why do we let these illegal immigrants come across even under protection of these companies? That isabsolutely unacceptable. I’ve become so full – Deven Lapidario Period 2I'm tired of eating what they want me to eatSee all the snacks, in line with the grocerI don't know what you're cooking for todayIf it meets the standards of the food-pyramid[ Eat one more chip, just eat one more chip ]Every cookie I bake is another mistake to do[ Eat one more chip, just eat one more chip ]I've become so full, I can't eat that biteBecome so stuffed, every spoonful is a fightBy eating like this all I want to doIs eat more like me and have less like youCan't you see that you’ve overfed me?Cooking too often, always with the casserole'Cause everything that you cook seems to beFresh from the freezer to the micro-wave[ Eat one more chip, just eat one more chip ]Every bite of that cake is another mistake to do[ Eat one more chip, just eat one more chip ]And every calorie I waste is more than I can take!I've packed my own lunch, I can’t eat their foodCafeteria lines, put me in a bad moodBy preparing this all I want to doIs drink more Fiji and less Mountain DewAnd I know I may end up trading food tooBut I know you were just like me with someone trading lunch with youI wait in this line, I can't order in timeHave to rush a meal, and this can’t be fineBy eating like this all I want to doIs eat more like me and have less like youI've become so full, I can't eat that bite[ I'm tired of eating what they want me to eat ]I've become so full, every spoonful is a fight[ I'm tired of eating what they want me to eat ] |
Lapidario 1Deven LapidarioPeriod 2EnglishLarsonAugust 29, 2016This is What the “Politically Correct” look like.What is normal in this modern day and age? Why are people censored and chastised forsaying words that have been around for thousands of years? Where did the idea of “Safe Zones”for people who have been “triggered” come from? Speaking of which, what constitutes assomeone who is “triggered”? These are all valid questions asked about our culture and societalevents of the American people. Finding a consensus on these discussions, however, remains indebate. As for the origin of this discourse, some blame the Internet, which can spread radicalideas without traditional restraint, while others blame the misguided and misinformed politicalviews of the newer generations. At this point, the origins of these views have less importancethan their effect. The more extreme ends of these politics have left the confines of the Internetand have seeped into common life, attitudes, and the schools in America. Lapidario 2A spreading cancer is a lovely way to put it, that is what “Political-Correctness” is.A spreading cancer that wishes to tear apart the human mind, divide the people, andchange the ideology of the American people. Some may wish for such change, other people may be “triggered” by the fact that the word “cancer” or “spreading” is used in those past twosentences. Looking for an example of how “Political Correctness” is spreading and changingAmerica? Look at many college campuses, students and teachers can’t say certain words like“boy” or “girl”, because it will offend the “binary-gendered” students. For other words a studentmay be “triggered” with a falsified ideology that they have the equivalent of PTSD(Post-Traumatic-Stress-Disorder) in reaction to their “trigger-word” or to being called by thewrong personal pronoun. These people have their “trigger-warnings” and many people give in totheir needs to not talk about certain things, or say certain words. Real world example needed?College campuses, many don’t allow staff or students to refer to each other as “he” or “she”, Lapidario 3 because humanity managed to discover about50+ genders and sexual orientations in the past20 years that amazingly somehow science didn’tknow about! (That last statement was sarcastic.)This revolting development of socialcancer, may not seem like such an issue to some.So what people don’t want to be offended? Itisn’t causing any huge issues or affecting lives ina huge way? Wrong, “Political-Correctness” isaffecting the intelligence and philosophies’ offuture generations. It is tainting history classes especially, by teaching victimology rather thantrue history. As a student that has endured such classes of victimology, I was taught better thanto believe in the lies used in schools to teach victimology and worst of all demonize White people. The classes that I am supposed to learn in do not teach history they teach victimologyand a prejudice to students that eat it up, because apparently the idea of not offending anyone and blaming the world's problems on White Americans has become the main ideology of the moderngeneration. When history is rewritten to not offend anyone and to demonize an entire people, it’sa fallacy,a fairy tale, and a joke. Victimology isn’t history, it is a biased, straight lie to the futureof America, students, and I.The world already can see this widespread cancer in America, the so called “City Upon AHill” is seen with a malicious cancer. To falsify the past and an ideology that nobody should beoffended--ever, through the use of social censorship-- is, to be frank, disgusting. I know this |
Lapidario 1Deven LapidarioMs. LarsonEnglish Period 212-21-16Dear Reader,I’m Deven Lapidario. I’m a junior at John F Kennedy High School. I wrote this novel for National Write a Novel Month of 2016. My novel is titled Flight of the Reich , and it is a realisticfiction. As Adolf Hitler rose to power, those below were both asked and forced to follow. Themen and women of Germany no different. A local town baker, Garrick Busch, is called to servicein the Luftwaffe of the Third Reich. Though he doesn’t share the ideals of the Nazis, he is proudof Germany. His position as fighter pilot will drag him through the war, through unimaginableconditions.Writing this was quite a bit of fun and trouble. I just wrote whatever came to mind, aboutcertain battles the Luftwaffe participated in. I had struggled all over, having to research the realcombat and actions of the Luftwaffe and making it as historically accurate as I could. I believe Ihad done a very good job of making it historically accurate, and trying to show some compassionfor these characters as people, rather than judging them for the country they fought for.Personally I didn’t care or gain much from participating online in “discussions” with the otherstudents also writing their stories. For this novel I had found, that I loved making the absoluteawful experience of being on the battlefield in the skies with planes just falling apart in the sky. I Lapidario 2always seemed to write the most at night, after doing some flight simulations with Nazi aircraftto get the real feel of the combat going on.I’d say my writing has improved in the sense of description and for portraying characters,as this was the first time I had really written a creative piece. I’ve hardly ever written a narrativein the past, never enjoyed writing them so I never put a whole lot of effort until now. I enjoyedusing repetition for effect particularly the most. I had used all that we were mentioned in class,more similes and various other types of figurative language. In February of 1945, at four thirty-five in the afternoon Garrick and Anselm were bakingwith several people waiting in the storefront with them when a 2,000 pound bomb from a Britishbomber smashed through the roof, smashed through the bedroom, into the storefront, through atable crushing a woman as it came down, then exploding one second after striking the bottom floor of the store.Garrick saw the bomb smash through the flooring of the second floor, and said, “Derench,” as it really was the end.The bakery was obliterated in a second, with no survivors. Garrick and Anselm, and the people in the store were just collateral damage as well as enemies to the Allies at that point. I found this part the most important in the story, and the most dark and heavy in terms ofstory. Well not only is this the literal end of the book, but it's also the end to the lives of the twomain characters that had been through so much together that I hoped the reader would becomeattached to. For these characters, they didn’t die gloriously in battle either, they were killed withcivilians as collateral damage. I felt that the message of the pains of war and the loss would not be complete, without the deaths of the main characters to send the final blow to the reader to Lapidario 3know that even after their service they hadn’t escaped the war. I believe that for me it shows thatI understand some of these simple facts of war which are some of the hardest to really accept anddismiss as something inevitable.I’ve spent a lot of time writing this short novel, I put quite a bit of effort into writing it. I just overall enjoyed writing it and was happy to be able to write without any serious guidelinesconfining my story and writing.Cheers,Deven Lapidario12-21-16 |
1 Lapidario Deven LapidarioPeriod 2, LarsonEnglish IIISeptember 9, 2016The ThoughtsThe petty person, Deven N. Lapidario, carried the distant memories of the dead. The dead being the people he knew personally that were just that. These memories were not fond ones--nor were they really remembered in full. Kept in the cold crevices of his mind, these memorieswould leak out. Anytime that would happen he would be helpless and give in to wallowing in amelancholic world, remember truly how the memories were, what the people he had known werelike, what they had said and done, only to do everything in his power to cage the memories up,and wipe them from his mind permanently, with no real results of course.His most vivid memory of a young 15 year old girl, the late Ms. Ram Jackson, havingspoke to her only days before she threw herself off the roof of an apartment complex to herdemise.A meaningless yet so pivotal talk they had. Simply casual banter, along with the blackestwhite lie she could have told him.“How’ve you been lately?” Deven asked.“I’m feeling fine.” she had said.Some peace of mind it gave him when he found out she committed suicide, sarcasticallyof course.”She did not leave a suicide note and had not told anyone of her depression.”-DailyMail in an article about her suicide. A sociable, youthful, and successful girl with a bright 2 Lapidario future ahead of her, living in New York at the time. Irony the bastard that drove her over theedge shared his first name. A name forever tainted with the blood of the innocent.Until he began to lose the people in his life, Deven had barely opened the doors to people knowing him. He was nice to people. Such a lovely fellow, caring, sociable, innocent, andignorant. Doors barely open slam shut, like when Beowulf severed the arm of Grendel byslamming the door on the beast. From then Deven carried a heavy load, a recurring occurrence ofdeath. He carried guilt from the ones he knew, sorrow from their suicides, he carried the stress ofa failing family, failing grades, a broken sense of trust, an addiction to using E-cigarettes, a senseof being alone, an expectation of death, apathy, and the idea of suicide. All from the lovely people from his life. The saddest part of that is when the suicides aren’t people anymore to him,instead a list of statistics so he can cope."The death of one man is a tragedy, the death ofmillions is a statistic"- Joseph Stalin.Since the age of 10 he experienced the death of the ones he personally enjoyed beingaround time and time again. A long standing legacy of death. There’s a sense of detachmentwhen one stops thinking about people as people. Simply to ease the pain, gaining a sense ofapathy and losing a sense humanity. It devalues moral ideals to prefer a more selfish and quiet,introverted style of living, or at least it did for Deven. It created a sense of forced maturity todeal with reality of the world being an awful, disgusting place through his experiences.Funny that his experiences would be later coincide with depression later found in his life.At least his depression has good reason to exist. The combination of depression as a mentalillness and his experiences weighs heavier than the world on Atlas’s shoulders, to him at the very 3 Lapidario least. These two complimented each other so nice and finely at just ruining his time and life forthe most part. At the end of the day, it was just another burden for him to carry.Burdens like those added up over the years. Burdens that overlay and weigh down thecarrier. Burdens that cause more complications over time. Burdens that leave complications likesuicidal thoughts, attempts, and emotional trauma. Burdens that have lifelong effects and lifelongscars. These are the burdens he carries.Reflection: From what I was told, I just need to keep doing what I’m already doing and justcontinue using the styles from the book. I will continue putting my heart and personalexperiences into my writing, as that seems to do a good job at making my writing interesting andmeaningful. |