In Coming Home Again Chang Lee deals with the overwhelming emotions that his family had to go through when they sent him to prep school.  He finds out his mother has cancer and therefore it is a very difficult situation for his parents to send him away.  Especially in the Asian culture it is very typical for families to stay close together, even more so during a time of illness.  Lee always thinks back on how it might have been a mistake to attend the prep school and leave his family.  Not being able to see his mom for the remaining years of her life.

In both of these pieces it is highlighted how college and prep schools had changed the authors life for better or worse.  So after reading these, think of the benefits and the sacrifices you have been given/given up for the opportunity to attend college.

Quite different to Ted, Neil is from a much more successful family.  We can infer that his dad is probably a business man and they are “well off.”  His parents, at least to me, seem a little crazy.  His dad drills him everyday for at least 3 hours a day on how to spell words.  He has private tutors that he meets with 3 hours a day.  And he also meets with a tutor to learn french, because some words that need to be spelled are in french.  I choose this kid because he was the opposite of Ted, it gave me a nice balance.

From the spelling bee the kids will receive a sum of money (usually $10,000), national recognition and a full ride to a university.  I think that Ted will win because he is the underdog.  Usually the kids that study the most get nervous on stage and end up saying the wrong letter.  Ted will end up winning the spelling bee.

Chapter 13 is all about polyface products in the grocery stores.  Pollan’s main focus is to show how the american public is really less interested in food as a whole.  We really don’t care what the food is made of, how it is made, or who makes it.  All we care about is going to the cheapest place and buying the cheapest thing.

In chapter 14 Pollan is the main highlight.  He makes a meal for himself and his friends, but this meal seems much more important to him.  It is important because he now knows where the ingredients come from and how they were raised/grown, and he got them on his own.

One interesting thing that I keep coming back to is how much more expensive organic food is.  In the case of polyface products, poor people can not afford that.  We try and find a link as to why more and more people are obese and that is the answer.  They cannot afford organic products so they go to a fast food restaurant and feed there families for $10-$15.  Any one agree?

This article focuses on a study that was done by Texas A&M’s Christopher Ferguson.  His study shows how aggression and violence is not caused by video games but how it is caused by “moral panic.”  He demonstrates how moral panic rise from culture wars stemming from society, politicians, and news media.  Professor Ferguson describes how we really need to stop looking at moral panic from video games and focus on moral panic caused by the media.

Blaming The Dark Side of Gaming

This is an article from the BBC news corporation.  The article focuses on how violent video games don’t “nurture violence in oneself.”  The BBC questions whether these kids were mentally unstable before video games.  The article also brings up the question of gender.  It is a fact that more males play video games then women, but just because they play more that doesn’t mean the video games cause violence in males.  Males are just typically more violent because of their respective hormones.

Violent Games Don’t Cause Youth Violence

This article was written by USC’s Karen Sternheimer, a sociologist.  Sternheimer describes how many times in society we must create a “folk devil,” a way to channel our blame and fear.  Fifty years ago the folk devil was rock n’ roll music.  Video games, in the 21st century, have taken over as the folk devils.  Sternheimer brings up another point about media-effects research.  ”…they often tend to decontextualize violence.”  Mental illnesses and socioeconomic status fall by the wayside.

Reality Bytes: Eight Myths About Video Games Debunked

This article was written by Henry Jenkins, a MIT Professor.  Professor Jenkins also spoke on the 1999 Columbine Congressional Hearing.  The article he wrote takes 8 common myths about video games and disproves them.  The first of the 3 main categories are “The availability of video games has led to an epidemic of youth violence.”  He disproves this by showing DOJ stats that say the rate of juvenile violent crime in the US is at a 30-year low.  The second category is “Video game play is socially isolating.”  Jenkins responds with 60% percent of gamers play with friends, even single player games often become social through advice giving.  The last category is “video game play is desensitizing.”  Professor Jenkins counters with “play allows kids to express feeling and impulses that have to be carefully held in check in their real-world interactions.

The Truth About Violent Youth and Video Games

This was written by Duke Ferris, an editor at Game Revolution and a man that is trying to defend his job.  Throughout this article he uses many graphs and stats from the DOJ to show how the video game generation is the least violent generation in the history of the United States.  Within the graphs he uses the release of big games and consoles and the correlating drop in crime.  He explains how it is more likely that aggressive people are attracted to violent media not the other way around.  It should be noted this article is the one that sparked my interest in this topic.

Gamers Say Social Problems, Not Video Games Cause Violence

This articles starts off blaming the media for targeting video games.  It brings up a story of a 12 year old kid shooting his little brother in Stockton, California.  The article recalls how the first thing out of the AP news was that the boy was acting out an antiterrorist video game.  From their the article goes on a Point-Counterpoint tangent.  For example it brings up how studies have shown the negative effects video games have on youth, and then the next paragraph explains how studies show no correlation between video games and violence.

Study: Video Games don’t Cause Violence

This a very good article that begins by showing how for years we have been creating scape goats for violence.  In the 50′s it was rock n’ roll, the 60′s, comic books, all the way up to the 90′s blaming violent hollywood for corrupting our children.  After that the article explains how the media intentionally look past mental illness and sociopathic tendencies in children and target video games.  In the case of the Columbine shooting the media targeted the shooters obsession with the video game doom.  The target this rather than his previous sociopathic tendencies and mental abuse.  The article ends with a good quote from rapper Eminem “When a dude’s gettin bullied and shoots up his school and they blame it on Marilyn and the heroin, where are the parents at?  And look where it’s at: Middle America.  Now it’s a tragedy.”

The Link Between Video Games and Violence

This article was written by Dr. John Grohol, CEO and founder of Psych Central.  He explains how kids that don’t play video games are actually more violent than those who do.  Eight percent of boys play for less than an hour a week.  This non-participation could be a marker for social difficulty.  ”These boys were also more likely than other to report problems such as getting into fights or trouble.”  Dr. Grohol also explains, like many other in his field, that video games do not cause kids to become violent, violent kids play video games.  ”Surprise, surprise!  People who may already exhibit signs of anger or aggression may be drawn to such (violent) games.”

No Strong Link Seen Between Violent Video Games and Aggression

A study from University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign shows that there is no STRONG link between video games and aggression.  This study took a group of 213 people ranging from age 14 to 68 and exposed them to a role playing video game for a period of time.  This study was measured on the NOBAGS scale (L.R. Huesmann’s Normative Beliefs in Aggression) and proved to show no link in video game violence.  The article ends by stating that video-gaming leads to substantial gains in learning teamwork, managing groups, and most important problem solving.

Study: Games do not Unequivocally Correlate to Violence

This was another article that reflected upon the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign study.  This article showed how the players showed no more aggressiveness than the control group’s non players.  One thing that stood out was the fact that there was a small correlation between the game and aggressiveness.  However it was not the youth that was at fault.  ”Older participants in the experimental group were perhaps more strongly influenced by game play and argued with friends more than their younger counterparts.”  So video games effect older people, and don’t effect the youth.  Policy makers and the media need to sit down and rethink things.

In chapter 11 Pollen describes the complexity of Joel Salatin’s farm. He goes in depth about how every animal has a role and running the farm. Joel really doesn’t run the farm his animals do, and he is a smart man for doing it. Each animal has a specific role and if one thing doesn’t go accordingly, the whole flow of the farm is thrown off.

The one thing that interested me throughout the reading was the fact that most organic foods come from one huge conglomerate farm. We normally see higher prices for organic foods and think its ok to pay for them because we imagine one tiny farm taking the time to grow that piece of food right. Now that we know that, for example organic lettuce, comes from a huge farm are you still likely to pay a higher price for it?

In chapter ten Pollen describes more of the inter workings of the farm.  He really goes into detail about how the grass must be cycled in order for it to survive and work effectively.  In chapter ten Pollen also sits down with Joel and he describes his family history and how his farm got started.  Joel describes how he runs his farm and he talks about some of his tricks that he uses to keep his farm in working order.

In summation, within these two chapters Pollen describes how Salatin’s farm is very different then George Naylor’s farm that he first visited.

What do you think is better: Cheaper, less organic foods such as those made at Naylor’s farm, or more expensive organic foods made at Salatin’s farm.