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.