A Sad, but Necessary Intervention

In Zana Briski's documentary film, Born Into Brothels, she documents the lives of children who live in the Red Light District in India and the kind of world they are growing up in. She shows intimate details of their lives, such as their parents yelling and cursing at them, how they feel about their families and friends, and what they think is in store for their future. It is so sad that these young kids are aware of how their mothers make a living and know that they would probably have to do the same someday and they do not look forward to it. Briski uses these tragic and intimate details to show what a bad effect this environment has on these kids. On the one hand, it is good that Briski got these details out so that people around the world could see these effects first hand and be aware of what is going on in the red light district. On the hand, this documentary is an invasion of the kids' privacy. They gave no consent to be in the film and didn't even know who would be seeing it. It is kind of hard for children to give consent to do something like this because they don't really know what they are getting themselves into. However, although it is pretty unfair that the lives of these kids have been put on display, it is for the better. Without Zana Briski and the resources she put into the kids' lives and making the film, they would have never gotten out of the red light district and never have had real opportunities in the world that their new schools provided them. Also, now that people can see the terrible things going on there, it is easier for more people to get help. In the end, I think the ends do justify the means because the opportunities that the kids from the movie got are great, especially compated to what alternatives they had for their future. This film was pretty successful in that Zana Briski raised awareness of the conditions of children growing up in the red light district and she helped many children to have better lives.

Then and Now

What you eat is what you are

Over the past few weeks, I learned a lot about food that I either didn't know or needed to be reminded of. I learned about the benefits and risks of genetically modified f0od and organic food, the way that corporate industries are taking over agriculture, the centrality of corn in the American diet, and America's unhealthy obsession with fast food. All of this knowledge about food certainly does have an effect on me, but it is hard to make an immediate change in my eating habits, especially considering that I rely on the dining courts to get my food and I don't have a lot of say in what kind of food that is or where its coming from. Heck, I don't have that much choice in the grocery store, considering that we really don't know if the foods we are buying and eating are GMO or not. I have already chosen to eat fast food only on rare occasions and I am going to make sure that next year, when I live in an apartment and am forced to make my own food that I am not going to fall into a bad habit of eating fast food. I am going to try to be aware of what I buy at the grocery store and ask the grocer if they carry organic food. It is going to be customer demand that makes a change in how much organic food is grown and if people can show the food industry that they want to eat organic food, then maybe it can help a little. During this unit, I also learned that meat uses up a significant amount of resources compared to grains-it takes 16 pounds of grain to go into 1 pound of beef! So even though I know I can't give up meat because it is such an integral part of my diet, I am going to at least be aware of my meat-eating and try to limit it and at least eat less beef. This shouldn't be too hard since I am living with a vegetarian next year, so hopefully I will be able limit the meat I eat, choose the food I eat more wisely, and eat healthier.

I guess my footprint is pretty big...

Ecological Footprint Quiz Results

CATEGORY
ACRES
FOOD
6.9
MOBILITY
0.5
SHELTER
5.7
GOODS/SERVICES
5.7
TOTAL FOOTPRINT
19
IN COMPARISON, THE AVERAGE ECOLOGICAL FOOTPRINT IN YOUR COUNTRY IS 24 ACRES PER PERSON. WORLDWIDE, THERE EXIST 4.5 BIOLOGICALLY PRODUCTIVE ACRES PER PERSON.
IF EVERYONE LIVED LIKE YOU, WE WOULD NEED 4.2 PLANETS.

It's clear to see that I use much more than my fair share of the world's resources. In fact, I use 14.5 more acres than should be equitably allotted to me. That means that I am cutting into productive acres and resources of many other people. I knew my living was wasteful and compared to the world, on the extravagant side, but I guess I didn't realize that my living was costing other people (people in poverty) some of the world's resources. And the problem is, its not just me. The rest of America lives just as wastefully, if not more, than I do. The average ecological footprint of people in America is 24 acres per person. Thats 19.5 more than we all deserve! Is it really fair that Americans use 5 times more than their fair share of the world's resources? Absolutely not! But the wasteful and carefree manner that most Americans are accustomed to living is so embedded in our culture and way of living that it is very hard for us to realize it and even harder for us to change it. But something really needs to be done. We are consuming the world's resources and damaging the environment in astronomical amounts at great rates. This creates a problem for the world that we aren't owning up to. Our lifestyles have consequences, and the amounts that we consume should definitely bring significant responsibility to our country to address these consequences. The amount of food we eat puts a lot of strain on productive farmland, the amount of CO2 we release has probably contributed significantly to Global Warming and the amount of "stuff" we consume uses up the world's resources at an unsustainable rate. Yet, instead of taking responsibility for its actions, the U.S. tends to try to back out of the responsibility. Unless we can come up with 3.2 more planets, America really needs to own up to its overconsumption, try to fix the problems it has created and begin to make adjustments in the way we treat our environment.

What did I REALLY eat today?

Food Log for Friday, March 28^th

 

What I Ate:

*1 bowl of Honey Nut Cheerios and skim milk

*half a turkey sandwich on wheat bread, corn, carrot sticks, French fries, strawberries, water

*chicken fettuccini alfredo and bread with olive oil from Spageddies, water

*kit-kat bar

*iced vanilla mocha

*McDonald’s French fries and McFlurry

 

So, I ate a couple healthy meals and pretty much ruined a good day of eating with unhealthy late night snacks. I probably ate some food that was genetically modified- I ate corn for lunch and I also ate strawberries that were pretty big, so they were likely to have been GMO. Even the Honey Nut Cheerio cereal probably contained GMO products (it contains modified corn starch). It’s really pretty hard to tell exactly what you are eating or where it came from when you’re eating dining hall food all the time, and the same goes for when you go out to a restaurant. I’m not sure what the farthest distance a food had to travel to get to me, but the strawberries probably came from some place warm since I think they are out of season. The closest thing was probably the corn, because we all know that comes from Indiana! Yes, I did unfortunately eat fast food, which is not a usual habit, but sometimes it just sounds really good late at night! It’s kind of disturbing to think that you have absolutely no idea where the food you’re eating came from, what is in it and how it was made, when you are eating fast food. I also ate “slow food” on Friday night, at an Italian restaurant called Spageddies. I have a lot more faith in the quality of this food than fast food, but you still don’t know if the food contains GMOs or whatnot. 

Spring Break~

So, I guess my spring break wasn't really all that exciting this year. I didn't go anywhere-no Florida/Mexico/anywhere warm trips for me. Just good 'ole Indiana. haha. But you know what, going home wasn't that bad. Since I wasn't expecting or planning on going anywhere, it didn't really upset me that much that I wasn't on the beach. Yeah, it would have been nice to enjoy 80 degree weather instead of the "warm" 55 degree days in Indiana, but going home and relaxing still felt like a nice and much-needed break. Although, I am kind of upset that the rest of my family is going on a sweet vacation to Disney World without me on their spring break in two weeks! :( So, anyway, I pretty much just hung out with friends and my family, watched movies and did lots of shopping. The first night of spring break was really fun because I celebrated one of my really good friend's 18th birthday. :) Then I chilled at home for a few days, and then I drove up to South Bend in the middle of the week to visit one of my good friends from Purdue. This is when the low point of my week occurred- I got a speeding ticket on the way to visit my friend. :( I was driving North on 31, a long 3 hour drive, and trying to make good time, I was going 80 in a 60. It just so happened that there are a lot of cops on that road, unfortunetely. And this cop was a jerk! I have a perfect driving record (but not because of perfect drivng lol), I've never even been pulled over before, so you'd think he'd give me a warning or at least mark the ticket down a little, but no- he charged me with the full speed. (This is gonna cut into my bank account a little). So you would think that after getting charged with a $135 speeding ticket, I would be a little reluctant to spend money. On the contrary, I used shopping as therapy. :) We did some shopping up in the South Bend area, including an outlet mall where I got some amazing deals! :) Then, she came home with me, and we did some shopping in Indianapolis. So, overall, besides the ticket, it was a pretty good spring break.

My American Hero

When I think of a hero in U.S. history, I think of someone who made a difference in this country, took a stand for his beliefs, and made a decision for the greater good even when faced with great opposition and obstacles; I think of Abraham Lincoln. According to James Loewen, in Lies My Teacher Told Me, very few students pick presidents or other common figures that textbooks glorify because they think they are boring. While textbooks may portray Lincoln as just another two-dimensional figure, I know that there is much more to him and there are many great contributions to our nation made by him. I believe that Lincoln was one of the greatest presidents of our nation. He brought the nation through the roughest and bloodiest battle in our history, managed to preserve the Union, abolished slavery at long last, and promoted the passage of the 13th amendment. While Lincoln did wrestle with racism, he ultimately chose the higher road and worked to improve race relations. Not many people know that he desegregated the White House and, for the first time, exchanged diplomats with Haiti and Liberia. He worked hard to make decisions for the nation that he knew were right. Not only did he help save the Union, but he also saved an entire race of people from centuries of suffering in this country. 

"The Great Explorer" or "The Great Oppressor"?

In school, I was always taught about the greatness of Christopher Columbus, “the great explorer” who discovered America. But this not true! Textbooks tell a different version of the truth in order to humanize him and make him look like a hero. Similarly, the U.S. government portrays Columbus in only a positive light, sharing the basic story about him that we’ve all heard before. However, in Lies My Teacher Told Me, James Loewen presents a different account of Columbus. He provides all the details, including all the previous explorers before Columbus and even tells of Columbus’s flaws and brutal treatment of natives. I believe Loewan’s account to be closer to the truth because he did a lot of research and his purpose is to inform and relate what really happened in history. The government’s purpose, on the other hand, is to give an account of Columbus in light of the fact that we have a national holiday named after him. Obviously, if our country has a national holiday named after him, they are going to want to show why and they are going to portray him in an optimistic and biased way. I don’t think that Columbus actually deserves to have a holiday named after him at all. Out of the few people who are recognized by name in a national holiday, we shouldn’t be celebrating a man who was simply luckily enough to travel to the right place at the right time and got a big reaction and who oppressed native people.

Proportional? Please!

Robert S. McNamara, U.S. Secretary of Defense during the Vietnam War, argued in The Fog of War that WWII firebombing of Japanese cities and dropping atomic bombs were "not proportional to the objectives [the U.S. was] trying to achieve". This was a tremendous amount of damage and killing in terms of what the US was actually trying to achieve. The US went so far as for the U.S. Air Force General LeMay to argue that they would have been convicted as war criminals if they lost the war. I believe that proportionality should definitely be a guideline in war. The massive casualties and destruction that are a part of war are bad enough; there shouldn't be more death and destruction than there has to be. Yes, sometimes countries have to go to war to solve problems and sometimes they need to take extreme measures to win, but they need not go farther than they have to, that is, they should keep their actions proportional to their mission. This lesson was clearly not followed in WWII. Like McNamara said, the US killed 50-90% of the people of 67 Japanese cities and dropped two atomic bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki. This was obviously way more extensive damage than was really necessary and so it was not proportional. McNamara and LeMay would have been prosecuted as war criminals if we had lost, but should they have been, even though we won? It doesn’t make sense to prosecute the winning generals, “heroes” of the war, but what they did was bad enough that they deserved it.

You’d think we would have learned our lesson from that, but we are still not being proportional today with the war in Iraq. I believe we have overextended our stay; a few years after the Hussein regime was toppled we are still there interfering. We say we are trying to reconstruct Iraq and stop insurgencies and such, yet we are bombing Baghdad. I believe the bombing and who-knows-what-else our soldiers are doing in Iraq is not proportional to our objective of helping and reconstructing Iraq. 

A Truly Amazing Man

Interview with Ishmael Beah

*read some of the kids comments on this video-wow

After watching an interview with Ishmael Beah from CBS's The Hour, I cannot help but get the impression of what an amazing and inspiring guy he is. He went through so many terrible and painful experiences and not only recovered, but was able to share his experiences with the world and use his suffering to promote the awareness and resolution of the issue of child soldiers. From watching the clip, I got a sense of how real he was, how he had a glow and a great smile and so much life in him, even after all that he'd been through! His on-air personality was very natural and composed. He seemed very sincere and like he has reached a point in which he is actually comfortable talking about his experiences. A lot of things that he said in the interview reminded me of specific passages from his book. He talked about mothers and fathers carrying their dead sons and daughters while running away from the war, which reminded me of the part when Ishmael was heading back toward his home town and saw the mom with a dead baby on her back dripping blood and a father carrying his dead son. He also talked about watching Rambo movies and how they 'fed' them drugs to keep them in fighting mode, which reminded me of the scenes when he is a soldier. Talking about how he didn't want to leave the army and how he was resistant to the new home he was put in also reminded me of the memoir. Both his interview and his memoir demonstrate the strength of the human nature to fight for life through immense struggles and catastrophes and also the human resiliency that allowed him to be able to get through those struggles and now lead a relatively normal life. I already recommended this book to my mom, but I would definitely also recommend A Long Way Gone to my other friends and family because it is a very well written and truly touching story and it gave me a new perspective about the problem of child soldiers in Africa.

 

WC: 343

Last post cont: pics and songs

Some images and ads associated with diamonds:

I found this online and I hope that it is a spoof ad. It demonstrates some real irony. Some people really do get limbs chopped off in the process of mining diamonds. 

An interesting spoof ad:

A behind the scenes look at where many diamonds actually come from:

Notice the contrast between these two music videos about diamonds:

"Diamonds are Forever" by Shirley Bassey

Kanye West's music video "Diamonds from Sierra Leone"

Diamonds and the color red=both symbols of love...just not when they are put together.

Glamour. Wealth. Status. Prestige. Romance. These are all words that come to mind when most people think of the word 'diamond'. I always used to think of diamonds in that way as well. Diamonds are beautiful symbols of love, status, wealth, fame, ect. That is the stereotype that we receive about diamonds growing up. You see celebrities wearing lots of "bling", your mom wearing a diamond ring, queens wearing diamond and jewel encrusted crowns. You are bombarded with advertisements portraying men giving diamonds to their girlfriends/wives and told that the perfect way to show someone you love them is to buy them a diamond. "Every kiss begins with Kay". "A diamond is forever". Girls, we know we’ve all dreamt of our dream guy giving us a diamond. The fact is that the advertising of the diamond market has become embedded into our culture and we grow up with the view of diamonds being glamorous, as portrayed in Shirley Bassey’s song, “Diamonds are Forever”. My view changed, however, when I learned about “conflict diamonds”. This new discovery added words like blood, war, death and child soldiers to come to mind when I think of diamonds. It certainly is a different outlook. It saddens me to think that wars are being funded and many civilians are being killed because wealthy Americans buy conflict diamonds without a second thought. So many people have no idea what is going on in Africa and where their diamonds come from. Luckily, various aspects of the media, such as the film Blood Diamond and Kanye West’s song “Diamonds from Sierra Leone”, have tried to communicate the issue to the ignorant public. Although it helps to have popular artists and actors back the issue, the media can only do so much. I think that the popular media was helpful in raising awareness about the issue, but there are still a lot of people who haven’t seen the movie or heard Kanye’s song. I know I probably wouldn’t have seen Blood Diamond or listened to the lyrics of “Diamonds from Sierra Leone” if I had not already been aware of the issue. The practice of counter-storytelling, therefore, can only be effective to a certain extent. It can help raise awareness of the issue and it can even motivate people because there is actually one thing we can do about it. We can make sure that if we buy diamonds, they are not from conflict areas. Hopefully the movie and song helped people to begin monitoring the diamonds they buy. Although I still think diamonds are beautiful and glamorous, I will still remember the pain and strife it takes to mine many diamonds and I will never buy I diamond unless I am sure it is not a blood diamond.

 

How can it be?

How can it be that there are still 300,000 child soldiers in the world today? How can it be that this is still an issue, even though it has been exposed through books, movies and songs, among other media? How can it be that it is not yet stopped? Throughout reading Ishmael Beah's A Long Way Gone, and seeing Blood Diamond, I can not help but continuously wonder how such atrocities could be committed against men and especially children for so long without being stopped. Both the rebels and the government employed children as soldiers to help their cause. Not only did children have to witness war and brutal killing, but often they had to become a part of it. Children as young as 10 had to learn how to kill people, sometimes even their own families! I cannot understand it! The rebels and government used similar strategies in first capturing the children, then gaining their trust, and finally manipulating them into situations where they feel they need to help their cause and kill the enemy. I think this is absolutely horrible, and although it is difficult to stop insurgent rebels from using child soldiers, I strongly believe that it should be illegal for children to fight in wars. Since a person technically becomes an adult at age 18, I think that 18 should be the age that someone is old enough to fight in wars. I think that by this age, most people are mature enough to understand the situations around them and what they would be fighting for. But, basically, the use of child soldiers needs to stop. It has serious consequences for the rest of these children's lives. These children become scarred for life and have to go through serious therapy to be normal again. We saw in the film Blood Diamond, that Solomon's son had been brainwashed into almost killing his own father. It is very difficult to stop the use of child soldiers since the areas of conflict of which they are in use are usually very remote. Yet I believe that it can and should be done. It will take brave and committed people. I think the UN has tried to help with this, but I feel that they need to press harder and I feel that international peacekeeping organizations like the UN and non-profit organizations need to set laws against the use and move into areas of conflict and try to stop it by regulating foreign governments and assisting these governments in law regulation and enforcement. Hopefully, someday the issue of child soldiers will be stopped. We in the U.S. often feel so sheltered from these types of situations and so helpless in being able to help them. Sometimes all we can do is rant about them and simply wonder, 'How can it be?'

About Me

Hi, I'm Courtney.

I'm a college freshman at Purdue University and absolutely loving it so far! My major is Business Management and I haven't decided on a minor yet. I have absolutely no idea what I want to do after college, but I figure hey, that's what I'm here for, right? I grew up living in Illinois, not far from Chicago and then moved to Indiana a few years ago (yay in-state tuition!). My favorite colors are purple, pink and blue and my favorite foods are anything chocolate (I'm a junkie) and corn casserole (random, but soo good). I like a lot of different kind of music: hip-hop, pop, alternative, rap, light rock...but I hate country! I have a ton of favorite movies but a few of my favorite are How to Lose a Guy in 10 Days, Miss Congeniality, Mean Girls, Pirates of the Caribbean and John Tucker Must Die. Just in case you can't tell, I'm a chick flicks kind of girl. My hobbies are dancing, singing, shopping, watching movies, hanging out with friends...you know, the usual. I’m definitely a huge Boiler fan and I love going to football games! I never missed a single game this season and I stayed till the end of every one. I haven’t been doing as well with basketball games (oops!) but the ones I’ve been to so far have been super fun!