King Corn

I have spent a good part of my life living in other countries, and often around farms. So it was mildly surprising to see how different most American farms are from what I'm used to. I hadn't really seen just how bad the conditions were. However, it's also not surprising in a way. Comparing the quality of food among these countries, the meat you can buy elsewhere tastes completely different from what you get here. Now that I know what makes it different, I'm rather glad I don't buy many meat products here in the US. However, I feel that the amount of corn that is present in other products I buy and eat easily makes up for what I miss in beef. Although the commercials advertise corn syrup as a substitute for sugar, and say that our bodies can't tell the difference, I'm pretty sure something so completely artificial has a negative effect on our bodies and our lives.

Week 6 - My Revolutions

A line that stuck with me was when Chris wondered if an act still had significance if it was not reported on and no one knew about it. They had just blown up a building, yet the news was not reporting it. Their struggle reflected mediacracy because they began evaluating their success by how much media coverage they received. This can be contrasted with one of Chris's experiences towards the beginning of the book; when Chris is at a rally, he gets frustrated with  a news reporter who was only interested in hearing certain things out of the protesters. He is also relatively scornful of Miles when he first meets him. As he starts to feel that his old methods of protest are ineffective, he also begins to believe in the necessity of media to bring about changes in the government. Thus, unless their struggles are documented, unless there are media crews surrounding their every action, they feel as if they've failed.

Week 5

In the movie, The Most Dangerous Man in America, the character Dan Ellsberg experiences several epiphanies. One of these epiphanies occurs when he visits Vietnam during the war. He sees how nothing has changed or been accomplished since the war began, and comments to McNamara that he is shocked about the state of things. McNamara agrees with him, and says that everything is very much the same as it was. However, when McNamara gets back to the States, he tells everyone about the "progress|" he saw in Vietnam.
The biggest epiphany for Dan happens when he watches a man get arrested for believing in ending the war. He believed that the greatest thing he could do for his country was to get arrested. Ellsberg described the experience as an axe cutting his life in half. After this epiphany, he decides to leak the Pentagon Papers and openly protest the Vietnam War.

Week 4 - My Revolutions

Thus far in My Revolutions, we see Mike Frame reflecting on his old life as Chris Carver, and trying to figure out what to do about the reemergence of past acquaintances in his new world. After he sees a woman resembling Anna in France, and after meeting Miles again, he finds himself forced to stop running from the past and start trying to figure out how he can live with what has happened. A scene that really demonstrates this is when Miles shows up at his house and tells his step-daughter that he never used to be very clean cut. Before this, we are told that Sam even thinks that Mike has only ever been with Miranda. She had previously thought that his past consisted mainly of living at the monastery.
We also see his revolutionary attitude develop as he meets new people and gets involved with new organizations. Although he seems to been knowledgeable about what he is fighting for, he seems easily swayed into new thought processes and new revolutions. He especially seemed swayed by the women he has admired throughout his life, and seems to simply want to be a part of these womens' lives.