Introductory Statement
For our final group assignment in English 100, we were to form a bookclub. In order to complete this final assignment in English 100, I was to have in posession two things, a book and a "membership" in a bookclub in our class. Our class voted for a number of books to be available such as "Quiet", and "Breaking the Habit of Being Yourself", and "Outliers". Our bookclub consisted of four members who decided to read the book, "Fast Food Nation: The Dark Side Of The All-American Meal". I believe we were given a decent amount of time to commit to reading the book, because the idea was to find the author's purpose in writing the book. Because we are reading as a writer in English 100, we were supposed to critique it and then recommend it to the future english students under Professor Hayes' instruction. I liked the book, and was able to find the book's sole purpose as a written exposure of the fast food industry. Our other assignment was to present our book and our reading experience to the class, expressing the difficulty and ease, purpose, summary, and if we would recommend it to others or not. As for the final essay, the objective remained the same. I completed my review draft, and was required to hand it off to a fellow student so he may be able to assist me in areas that needed improvement. He was helpful, he insisted I needed to include "They say/I Say" in my essay, and agreed my essay was on the path to success. I even gave an evaluation to a student from class, my peer eval is included in this section of the blog.(285 words)
_____________________________________________________________________________________
Daniel Cano
Professor Hayes (337 words)
English 100 1:10PM Class
April 26, 2013
Presentation
Preparation Notes
After annotation of
my guide to the book club presentation, it has been made clear what our main
goal from this presentation is. Our goal is to present what we find as the
central argument or purpose of our text, “Fast Food Nation”, to our “most
likely uninformed” classmates. We also have to be able to summarize the book’s
main content, even our experiences of difficulty or ease in the text, and be
able to allow our audience to be able to “anticipate the kind of reading
experience they might have if they opted to read the book themselves.” If we
find that we have some disagreements with the book for any reason whatsoever,
that could also be included in the presentation as well. If we want our group
to be successful in the upcoming presentation of our text, “Fast Food Nation”
by Eric Schlosser, then necessary preparation for our presentation needs to be
made. Because our group has decided to finish what is left of the book jigsaw
style, I am sure we can combine our pieces together and explain the main points
our author is making, and we can discuss further in what order we would prefer
to have them presented. I know some of us (including myself) are not that
skilled when it comes to “public” speaking in class, but it will take practice
to do so, especially when trying to explain to the class the ideas and claims
Schlosser has. In addition to some of us building skill to summarize our text
in front of the class, I think the visuals would be better made with some power
point presentation, but then again, our presentation will not really be that
long, so it may be a bit short, which is cool.
·
Group Meets
·
Decide Who will make visuals
·
Check to see if everyone knows what part of the
book they are presenting
·
Be prepared for speaking competence
·
Have fun
___________________________________________________________________________________
Hayes
English 100 (187 words)
April 29, 2013
Presentation Notes #2
In our book club’s presentation of Eric
Schlosser’s “Fast Food nation”, I plan to discuss the introduction of the
presentation, which also consists of what I believe our group takes Fast Food
Nation’s purpose, and central argument. I will start off my portion of the
presentation with a brief explanation of the author’s background, which can
tell the audience if he comes from a biased position or not. For example, If
our book was on the topic of marijuana legalization and I present the author’s
background, and it shows he/she comes from a neutral viewpoint (Not a pothead
nor anti-marijuana agenda) then that could also describe him/her as a
valid/reliable arguer or informer. I will also throw in a quick 2:00-2:30
minute video on our topic which has to be suitable if I want to get my point
across. After, I will continue to describe the book via power point
presentation. Because we have four people in our group, we all can take a quick
5-7 minutes in our presentation
·
Intro
·
Argument/Purpose/Information/
·
Author’s Background/Reliability/Stance
·
Slideshow/video
·
Transition
___________________________________________________________________________________
Daniel Cano
Hayes
English 100 1:10PM Class
May 3, 2013 (504 word count)
“Fast Food Nation”
Book Club Exploratory Draft
As you hold your
cheeseburger in your hands gazing at its appetizing appearance, I highly doubt
the first thing that comes to mind is “what did it take for this food to be in
my hands?” Author Eric Schlosser writes about this in his book “Fast Food Nation:
The Dark Side of an All-American Meal” which
discusses many things as to why fast food plays such a significant role in
affecting American culture economically, sociologically, and by
labor costs. Though Schlosser meant to inform the reader (who is most likely
uninformed) about how fast food started and made its way to a billion dollar
industry, he also exposes what takes place behind the scenes in the fast food
CEO board membership, what really happens in the beef/pork/chicken slaughter
houses and the protocol of the company owners. I don’t plan to be spoiling the
book, but will talk about my thoughts on how well the book informed me about
what really happens behind the cashier counter at a fast food restaurant.
After reading the
very informative book, I have learned many things about the loopholes that
favor the company when it makes its mistakes. For instance, in one section of
the book, it discusses that teenagers are the sole reason why the fast food
companies make the money they now spend on building more franchise building on
every corner of the street. The companies mostly care about teenagers coming in
work right after school, and not taking academic responsibility, but rather
make that extra dime taking people’s order. If that were not bad enough, it
also turns out that working at a fast food restaurant is more dangerous than
having a job as a police officer. I found this shocking, because it turns out
that many robberies at fast food restaurants are conducted during opening and
closing times by people that already work in the same restaurant, and mostly
end in fatalities to the unlucky employees in the restaurants as well.
If one is immune to
the constant federal and economical discussions, then I am sure you can endure
what Schlosser has to talk about how fast food impacts these two components of
U.S society. For example, Schlosser also talks about the E.Coli epidemic that
affects our immune system caused by restaurants like Jack in the Box; there are
loopholes in favor of them when it comes to the recall of beef. They can recall
what’s being shipped, but it’s up to them if they want to take back what’s
already up on the aisle shelves, or what’s already being cooked on the grill. I
would recommend this book to be read by future English students not only
because of Schlosser being very descriptive about his discovery in the fast
food industry, but he also informs the reader about what really happens in the
fast food industry. If you can withstand economics or government, you should be
okay.
____________________________________________________________________________________
Daniel Cano
Hayes
English100 1:10PM (700/800 words)
May 6, 2013
Review Draft of “Fast
Food Nation”
What is our first
thought as we gaze upon the cheeseburger in our hands at our favorite fast food
restaurant? If you are like the rest of us normal humans, your first thought
would most likely be “Oh, gonna be so tasty” or something like that. But I
highly doubt that some of us would think about what resources it took to make
that burger we are now halfway done with. Eric Schlosser, so-called famous
author of “Fast Food Nation” discusses what fast food has done to revolutionize
the way we eat, shape our economy, and has ultimately become part of American
culture. Yet, there are things behind the curtain of the current Fast Food
industry that they don’t want many of our nation’s people to see. Schlosser
just happens to touch upon that as he also exposes the fast food industry’s
dark side. I recommend this book to fellow English students whether majoring in
the subject, or hope to use it to transfer to gain a higher education, since this book is aimed a wide audience,
discusses what you are eating, and describes in high detail the true nature of
the fast food industry. Now that we’ve finished our burger, let’s move on to
the fries, and then wash it down with that large coke. Schlosser’s claim may
not exactly be shared in plain reading of the book, his entire book tells us
this: although the fast food industry is indeed American culture which
revolutionized the way we eat and boosts our economy, the industry are more
than willing to sacrifice human health and well-being, abuse animal resources,
and mistreat workers-all for the sake of profit.
Since America
consists of people who have eaten fast food at least one point in their life,
this book is aimed at everyone, because it simply discusses what you are eating,
and what it took to make your food. That can be included in the parts of this
book which allow the reader to follow with ease. Although history may not be a
simple subject for most of us, Schlosser does indeed involve the chronological
span of fast food, which began in his first chapter of the book. That may cause
some frequent breaks to be taken while reading this book, by putting it down
and doing something else. But if read past the parts that drag, and onto the
parts that expose the fast food industry, that will assist the reader in paying
attention to what Schlosser has to share with the reader. Example given would
be the fact Schlosser shares that working in a fast food restaurant is more
dangerous than having a career as a police officer.
Before Schlosser gets
to the grittiness of the current true image of the fast food industry, he
started his first chapter with the origins of fast food that all began in
Anaheim, CA. Because automobiles played such a large role in American culture
even back the early days of 1930’s, that also did help form the American
culture of food. Schlosser stated that “At the heart of the story is southern
California, whose cities became prototypes for the rest of the nation, whose
love of the automobile changed what America looks like and what Americans
eat.”(13) While the whole purpose of serving fast food in these days was to
make money by providing excellent customer service while serving great food for
the best prices, perhaps the image of fast food’s future was determined by Ray
Kroc, who owned the business after buying the franchise from the McDonald
brothers. Ray Kroc was quoted in “Chapter II: Your Trusted Friends” of
Schlosser’s book, saying ‘“Look, it is ridiculous to call this an
industry,”… ‘“This is not. This is rat
eat rat, dog eat dog. I’ll kill ‘em, and I’m going to kill ‘em before they kill
me. You’re talking about the American way of survival of the fittest.”’ (37)
This could mean the ambition that franchise owners have about making the most
money by spending the least amount, even if it puts resources, workers, and consumers at high risk.
___________________________________________________________________________________
Daniel Cano
Hayes
English 100 1:10 PM (805 word count)
May 8, 2013
Peer Evaluation
Global: You did good in telling your audience why they
should take time and effort into reading the book “Outliers” by Malcolm
Gladwell; you gave us multiple reasons why this book would be beneficial to the
audience when it comes to hard work and success. You also discussed 2 distinguishing
characteristics of an outlier according to Gladwell-a person who does not
relate to norms and is outcast from the mainstream or maintains remarkable statistical
value. You used Bill Gates as an example of an outlier, one who does in fact
fit into both characteristics of being an outlier since he is “… someone who
has a prominent ability or something that cause outstanding phenomenon.” Bill
Gates is indeed the creator of personal computers; his creation ever since
evolved and innovated, thus bringing modern technology we use today. You also
presented “three merits” aside from the book being a good contributor to
achieving goals which were “clearness of concepts, taking readers captive,
giving readers hists to get success, and if readers are student, the book will
be a great example for learning writing critiques.” Even though you discussed
the easier process of reading the book, you also described what was a bit
difficult of the book at times. You said that “Sometimes many examples and its
details make readers confused when the examples are changed in
succession.” You did okay with the
global portion of the evaluation, but there were a few if any, errors in organization
or paragraph that can be easily taken care of after you polish it up.
Organization: Your intro began with two questions: “Have you
ever wondered about what is the difference between very successful people, such
as Bill Gates and just regular people? What do you think what factors help you
to get a great success?” Try to re-read these sentences, and then try to make
changes. If I may suggest, you could have asked, “Have you asked, ‘What makes
me any different than Bill Gates? What key factors exist to help me be as
successful in life?’” then could have
finished the paragraph by answering that question with a couple statements. I
know not all of us in class are English-first language, but like the book
mentions, it does take patience and time to improve on things, and that applies
to everyone including myself. So, try to improve on sentence craft a little. If
you want that extra help and extra credit, you could go to an English
instructor and ask to have a good look at your essay, then they can specifically
point out areas that can be improved.
Paragraph: Paragraph look in order, you have your intro in
the first paragraph, author’s biography, summary, and recommendation in the
second. Then you’ve got your ease of reading in the third paragraph, then your
difficulties in the fourth. Afterwards, you gave an example of the book which
involves the obesity problem in Roseto, Pennsylvania in comparison to other
towns. Not too sure what that meant in Outliers, but you finished the paragraph
with the author walking around town observing the people, and came to the
conclusion that Roseto is a healthier place than other places. You said that
“To figure out the keys of the phenomenon in Roseto, the author walked around
the town and watched people’s lives. Then, finally he found the reasons why
people are living physically and mentally healthily. Because many people are
struggling to get good health these days, that must be an interesting topic for
readers.” If I may, how are they trying to get good health, despite “Although
the people’s eating habits are never said to be healthy and many are struggling
with obesity, there is nobody before fifty-five who died of heart attack or
other heart diseases.” If you could tell the audience how many people are
struggling with health problems and how many are seemingly fit and healthy,
that could allow us to see what makes Roseto a healthier community than most
places.
Paragraph
|
Form and Organization
|
Notes
|
Intro
1.
2.
3.
|
2 questions, then a suggestion for those who ask themselves these
questions to read this book.
Need a transitional phrase that begins in the first sentence along
with the rest of your paragraphs. FANBOYS e.g, “Before I discuss the book’s
content, the author is….”
Ease of reading, and includes summary of an outlier’s actions towards
success.
Difficulty portion of the book, and ways and techniques to overcome
these certain difficulties.
|
Maybe include answers to the proposed questions.
Try to get into that.
Rearrange “Not only Bill Joy and Bill Gates, the author provides many
other examples to prove the significance of timing, environment, and
hardworking for becoming outliers.”
“Consequently, the difficulty will be easily overcome.” Use
“Beneficially.”
|
Cano1
Daniel Cano
Hayes
English100 1:10PM
May 6, 2013
1325 Words
I Recommend This
Book!
What is our first
thought as we gaze upon the cheeseburger in our hands at our favorite fast
food restaurant? If you are like the rest of us normal
humans, your first thought would most
likely be “Oh, this will be tasty” or something like that if
appropriate. But I highly doubt that
some of us would think about what resources it took to make
that burger we are now halfway
done with. Eric Schlosser, so-called “famous” author of “Fast Food Nation” discusses what fast
food has done to revolutionize the way we eat, shape our
economy, and has ultimately become
part of and contribute to, the American culture. Yet, there
are things behind the curtain of the
current Fast Food industry that CEO’s don’t want many of our
nation’s consumers to see.
Schlosser just happens to touch upon that as he also exposes
the fast food industry’s dark side. I
recommend this book to fellow English students whether
majoring in the subject, or hope to use
it to transfer to gain a higher education. Since this book is aimed a wide range of
audience,
discusses what you are eating, it also describes in high
detail the true nature of the fast food
industry. Now that we’ve finished our burger, let’s move on
to the fries, and then wash it down
with that large coke. Schlosser’s claim may not exactly be
shared in plain view of reading the
book, though his entire book tells us this: although the
fast food industry is indeed American
culture which revolutionized the way we eat and boosts our
economy, the industry are more than
willing to sacrifice human health and well-being, abuse
animal resources, and mistreat workers-
all for the sake of profit.
Cano2
Because America mostly consists of people who have eaten
fast food at least one point in their
life, this book is aimed at everyone, because it simply
discusses what you are eating, and what it
took to make fast food (Blood, sweat, and tears!). That can
be included in the parts of this book
which allow the reader to follow with ease. Although history
may not be a simple subject for
most of us, Schlosser does indeed involve the chronological
span of fast food, which began in his
first chapter of the book. That may cause some of us readers
to take some frequent breaks while
reading this book, by simply putting it down and doing
something else just as productive. But, if
read past the parts that drag, and onto the parts that
expose the fast food industry, that will assist
the reader in paying attention to what Schlosser has to
share with the reader. Example given
would be that of chapter 3:“Behind the Counter” where Schlosser goes on to discuss how teens
contribute to the fast food companies success by committing
more time and effort making money
working in a fast food restaurant than putting effort to
boost their grades. Schlosser did say that,
“Teenagers have long provided the fast food industry with
the bulk of its workforce.”(70)
Younger workers mean greater efficiency. Anyway, after all
has been said for the teens who
spend their given paychecks on clothes, cars and other
meaningless things, Schlosser grabs the
attention of the audience when he transitioned to expose the
crime rate related to the robbery of
fast food restaurants. It was shocking to be informed that
working at a fast food restaurant is
more dangerous than a shift as a police officer. Schlosser
tells the tale of a common fast food
robbery this way:
“A fast food robbery
is most likely to occur when only a few crew members are present: early
in the morning when customers arrive or late at night near
closing time. A couple of sixteen year
old crew members and a twenty-year-old assistant manager are
often the only people locking up
a restaurant, long after midnight. When a robbery takes
place, the crew members are frequently
Cano 3
herded into the basement freezer. The robbers empty the cash
registers and the safe, then hit the
road.” (84)
For every robbery
that has taken place the fact remains that the common perpetrator is the one
who already works in the restaurant. Interesting, yes? The
attention grabbing technique that
Schlosser has on his intended audience does in fact help the
reader stay hooked to what they are
reading, and keep progressing onward, turning pages. As
mentioned earlier, the boring parts do
come around just like every other book, but the exciting
page turners are ensured. As Schlosser
gets to the attention grabbing grittiness of the current
true image of the fast food industry, he
discusses how companies like Disney (eventually partnered
with McDonald’s) are noted for their
decisions on workers who believe in worker’s rights and
better pay. Schlosser reveals to the
audience in chapter 2:”Your
Trusted Friends”, that Walt Disney had a totalitarian or dictator
sense of leadership with his following decisions, by saying
:
“But Walt’s response
to the strike betrayed a different political sensibility. He fired employees
who were sympathetic to the union, allowed private guards to
rough up workers on the picket
line, tried to impose a phony company union, brought in an
organized crime figure from Chicago
to rig a settlement, and placed a full-page ad in Variety that accused leaders of the
Screen
Cartoonist Guild of being Communists.”(36)
Afterwards, Schlosser quotes directly from
Disney regarding the issue of company management
methods. Reviewing Schlosser’s academic writing style is
relevant, because college English
students will need to learn the basics of academic writing,
and it does take a lot “they say this, I
say that” In other words, giving your opinion on what
someone else is saying. Gerald Graff and
Cathy Birkenstein American writers of the book, “They Say/I Say: The Moves That Matter in
Academic Writing”,
said that:
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“A key premise of this book is that to launch an effective
argument you need to write the
arguments of others into your text. One of the best ways to
do so is by not only summarizing
what ‘“they say”’ as suggested in Chapter 2, but by quoting
exact words. Quoting someone
else’s words gives a tremendous amount of credibility to
your summary and helps ensure that it
is fair and accurate. In a sense, then, quotations function
as a kind of proof of evidence, saying to
the readers; ‘“Look, I’m not just making this up. She makes
this claim and here it is in her exact
words.”’”(42)
After Schlosser
summarized Disney’s atrocious decisions
towards his workers, Schlosser
quotes Disney, saying-‘“Don’t forget this,”’ Disney told
them, ‘“it’s the law of way, and I don’t
give a damn what idealistic plan is cooked up, nothing can
change that.”’ (37) To further prove
his point on the demeanor of CEO’s to the workers and
consumers, Eric Schlosser also quotes
Ray Kroc; ( the owner of McDonald’s from 1961 until his death
in1981.) Eric Schlosser revealed Ray
Kroc’s true feelings about company management. Kroc said,
‘“Look, it is ridiculous to call this
an industry,”… ‘“This
is not. This is rat eat rat, dog eat dog. I’ll kill ‘em, and I’m going to kill
‘em before they kill me. You’re talking about the American
way of survival of the fittest.”’ (37)
This is just the exposure of the CEO’s feelings of company
management; the real shocking parts
come as you read deeper in the book. Those parts shall
remain unspoiled.
In conclusion, I
recommend this book to the future English students of Professor Hayes because
the book is very informative about fast food’s contribution
to the economy, workers, CEO’s,
teens, and illegal immigrants. This book is also aimed at a
wide range of audience, which raises
the probability that the reader can easily relate to this
book presented. This book is fun to read,
once the boring parts are over with.
Cano 5
Works Cited
Schlosser, Eric. “Fast
Food Nation: The Dark Side of the All-American Meal” Boston: Houghton
Mifflin, 2001. Print.
Graff, Gerald, and Cathy Birkenstien. They Say/I Say: The Moves That Matter in Academic Writing. 2nd
ed. New York: Norton & Company, Inc., 2010. Print.
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