Breakfast Club

Tyler MacAuley

Writing 122

Professor Cook

10/15/13

The Breakfast Club

Across the ages, people have come up with many questions and issues, seeking answers to life's many difficult quandaries. “What should I wear today?” “Is genocide wrong?” “What is the price of tea in China?” I do not seek to answer all of these questions (except for genocide, which is wrong!), but rather the one which I believe is most important, the question many frazzled students and employees have had to ask themselves throughout time and space: “Should I eat breakfast this morning?”

Some people may say that this is an extremely obvious question. “Of course you should always have breakfast! It's the most important meal of the day!” But despite the initial simplicity of this query, there is a surprising amount of depth to this issue.

            Normal issues require, and indeed demand, a staunch stance to be stood, but I say that which breakfast club you belong to demands more than just five seconds of thought! On one hand, why should you not eat breakfast? Well, as someone who attends Job Corps, I do not decide what I eat for breakfast. Sometimes they serve something that gets the guts in a grind, while other days I am a bolt of lightning striking the cafeteria doors, homing in on the french toast like some sort of experimental bread-seeking missile. Other factors here simply boil down to how you're feeling on that particular morning. Maybe you're sick, maybe you're about to miss the bus or be late for class/work/rodeo clowning, what have you. If you're crunched for time, sometimes you don't have time to crunch some toast. And what if you're broke and have only enough money and/or time to eat one meal in the day? Eating breakfast is basically flint and tinder for your third chakra, and these poor saps don't want to be hungry all day!

            Those are all at least semi-valid points from those of the Knights who say “Nay”, but what about the ones who wave their breakfast-y banners up high for all the world to see? As mentioned before, breakfast kick-starts your stomach, which puts your metabolism into gear. This has the rather pleasing effect of waking you up, increasing your energy, and most importantly, promoting weight loss. Yes, you heard me right. Contrary to common sense, eating breakfast can actually make you lose weight instead of gaining it. In fact, according to webmd.com, skipping breakfast has been linked to obesity. Thinner people have been shown to eat breakfast far more often than the heavyweights. Breakfast will also help your mind, so if you have to study for a test, crunch down on a breakfast bar or something. The old gray matter will thank you for it.

            And so we come to the weighing of the arguments. On one hand, eating breakfast is time-consuming and can be rather expensive. Not only that, but some of us don't have the option of choosing what we are going to be eating. On the other hand, eating breakfast is simply a good idea. Even if you have to choke down some bran flakes and deal with the gastrointestinal consequences later on, breakfast wakes you up, helps you lose weight, and aids in brain function, thus why it is called The Most Important Meal. Humans absolutely need to break the fast in the morning to properly function, so while it may be tempting to hit the snooze alarm ad nauseum, if you bite the bullet and just bite the bacon, you will feel better and more energetic than if you had caught those extra five winks. And now comes the hard part: get up and go!

Tia's Essay #1 - Things You Never Knew About Costco

                                   

                                          Things You Never Knew About Costco

                                            

    I work in a popular national retailer called Costco Wholesale. It’s a great place to buy in bulk or just eat those free samples. I've been working there for a little over a year and a half. I started as a front end worker while finishing up my senior year of high school, eventually I got moved up to work in the Deli. As a Deli worker I no longer have to box groceries or push carts, my responsibilities are to do production, cook chickens and to clean the deli appropriately.  I've wanted to move to the food court for a while now, I feel like I have done my fair share and gained enough trust to move departments .Becoming a food court worker would allow me to enjoy my work environment and not be so stressed out. If I don’t get moved up to being a food court worker I feel like I should leave Costco and go someplace that will give me a better opportunity.

  I believe I should be moved up to work in the food court because I am a hard worker who is dependable, flexible, and has the ability to work under stress. I am friendly person who always has a smile on her face and is willing to go the extra mile. I strive to do my very best in my work environment, no matter what the obstacle may be. As a deli worker, I work by myself each day and even though I still have set requirements I have to do each day; I still manage to get done on time. On days that I have time to kill I will go help out other departments if help is applicable. I have been told my people that I am a hard worker, and that they can always tell when I have cleaned.

     Part of my deli job is to lift boxes that weigh over fifty-pounds , this is a main issues I am struggling with. Six months ago I was rear-ended and am currently still going to physical therapy . Having to lift not only hinders my process of healing but also causes me to have flare ups from the exposure to lifting heavy things in my back and neck. The majority of my job involves using many hazardous or mild chemicals that can be potentially hazardous if not handled properly. I was also told to use a certain chemical multiple times while cleaning, but one day the chemical produced high fumes that caused me to lose my voice for a short amount of time. After that incident, I was much scared of my exposure to the chemicals and decided to not use it.. Finally, I struggle with what I perceive to be poor management. I never get the acknowledgement I need for doing my job; instead, I am constantly getting put down and treated like my work is never good enough. For instance, I may run out of chickens at the end of the night, and the manager would get very upset that I ran out of chickens even though it’s not my fault. Being in this kind of work environment is very stressful and causes me to feel like my work ethic is reduced. Some might think I’m complaining, but I’m not the only one who struggles. When I worked in the front end I never struggled, I actually really enjoyed it .The department I’m in now faces high turnover rates for real reasons. And actually at this point I fear I might be stuck there because I’m the only one who will put up with the conditions.

  If I don’t get moved to a new department soon, I feel like I should search for a new position somewhere else that would allow me to enjoy my work environment and not be too stressed out . I believe no one should be so stressed out over their job that they constantly feel like they should quit their job. Being in an environment that causes you to face such things as chemicals, and  heavy lifting is nothing someone wants to become in contact with  .Although everyone may rave about how great a company Costco is to work for, it all comes down to the management of a department. There may be spectacular management in the store as a whole, but in the deli that may not always be the case. If I happen to move to the food court I would be thrilled and I would be very fortunate to be in the department. Whether or not I get moved up I will have to lose a battle or win a fight depending on the outcome on my work place.

Amirae's First Essay

 

A Team For Children

            Team work is like a puzzle, every person is a piece, and each of their gifts is needed to form a perfect picture. If one piece in missing, the puzzle will never be complete, and the outcome of the picture could be altered. For instance, if the picture is a girl playing with toys, but her mouth is missing, no one will truly know her emotion, people may just assume she is smiling. I was eight years old when my parents chose to take in foster kids, and for years I have wished the DHS (Department of Human Services) could work together as a team. I wish all differences and power trips would be put aside, and everyone would fight to save children socially, mentally, and physically before the damage is permanent. Instead, children are left hanging in uncertainty for an unnecessary amount of time because the departments don't agree. Pieces of the child's puzzle are tossed out the window, and teamwork becomes a word, not an action.

             A big reason for the system's current disputes, is the many levels of authority within the DHS, and a lack of communication between different departments. Some of those departments working to help kids, are case workers, counselors, foster parents, and CASA workers (Court Appointed Special Advocates). Caseworkers, primarily decide the child's future, but the counselors have some say in the decision . The foster parents are considered the baby sitters for the kids and can not do much to change the plans for them. A CASA spends time with a child, to understand what the child wants for his/her future. The CASA can speak for the kid in court, and have a slight chance of altering the decision, but only if proof is found that contested decisions would be damaging to the child. These departments have trouble working together because they all see a different part of the child. Various people in these departments think they know what's best for the child, and they fight each other to get the upper hand, losing sight of what's more important. If all these people were equal in influence and communicated on the same level, there would be less focus on who has greater power and more time spent addressing children's needs.

             A scenario that demonstrates a lack of team work in the system, is based on true life events. It is a story about a three year old boy whose mom left and dad was on drugs. The dad beat the boy regularly and did not care for his well being. Then, one night the police broke down the door and arrested the dad right in front of the boy. They took the boy to the DHS office, and he was then sent to a foster home. That first family he stayed with felt he was not normal and wanted him moved within the first week. In the course of four months, the boy went through six homes, and all that time saw his abuser twice a week. The foster parents noticed that he had nightmares nearly every night and would become aggressive for no reason. Counselors thought that he may have some disorders, so in turn, the doctor prescribed drugs for him. The volunteer drivers, who transported him to visits witnessed him screaming and crying in the car all the way there. However, at the visits the caseworker saw a boy getting along with his dad, and the dad doing what he was supposed to do. A year went by and nothing got settled; the courts couldn't make a decision because information about the child's well being was a jumbled mess. While everyone fought over what was best for the boy, no one saw the torment that the he suffered while living in limbo. They didn't see him cry himself to sleep and beat on himself out of frustration. They didn't see how all the broke promises made to him, shattered his attachment and trust towards humans. All he understood was that he had been beaten, tortured, and pulled from a tank of sharks but left dangling above it, always afraid, waiting to see if he would be dropped back into that shark tank, or tossed into another.

            Many argue that decisions for a child's future, need to be in the hands of people who have the degrees and experience, not volunteers. I agree to an extent. I believe the courts and caseworkers have a great education and can do a lot of good, but they don't always have the time to get to know the child. They end up blindly making decisions based almost entirely by what they see on paper. The volunteers, such as the foster parents, who have lived with the child should have some part in the decision making. There are some foster parents who are in it for the money. This is why many caseworkers worry about letting foster parents have a input about the child. I completely understand, I have seen foster parents take in kids sole for the money, and have wrecked young lives forever with their repugnant lies. However, not all foster parents are this way, most do it to love and help children who have suffered. These kids don't always have control over their lives. Their future is in the hands of this system, and everyone needs to be involved in finding the best solution in a timely manner.

            Sad situations, like the one I described, happens everyday in the world of foster care. So much suffering could be avoided and resolved quickly, but until the whole system starts to communicate and pull together, there will never be a change. In those thirteen years of taking in foster kids, I had a brother sent to jail, a sister taken back to her sexual abuser, and other brothers and sisters brought back to their hell. Such memories still haunt me today because they could have been prevented. That little girl playing with the toys could be unhappy or scared, but if people are too stubborn to work together and search for that missing puzzle piece, she could end up with the same fate as my siblings. Abuse that has happened can't be undone, but for the sake of future foster children, diversity in the DHS system needs to expire. This starts with all the advocates for foster children working together as team.

Wade's First Essay

To Shop Local

Imagine for a second you decide to make a change in your life one that will propel you into a healthier lifestyle. You know the most important thing you have to do is to properly regulate your diet and exercise, but where to begin? So you think why not the health food section of my local supermarket? Things here look pretty good if somewhat unfamiliar so you grab a loaf of Ener-G White Rice Loaf bread off the shelf and take a look at the ingredients list on the back only to see words like Methylcellulose, Sodium Carboxymethylcellulose and Glucono Delta Lactone. It’s all the same unpronounceable words for artificial ingredients with no way to make sense of it all, but is there a better option out there?  Although many people enjoy the convenience and perceived savings of shopping at large corporate supermarkets, supporting our local Co-ops and from local farmers is important not only because these businesses do much to strengthen our community but they also support a far more wholesome and healthy life style. Shopping local not only helps the individual but the whole community.

Shopping local means that dollars that are spent locally stay local and continue to bolster the local economy. Economies survive only by the exchange of money flowing from one business to the next, from one person to another. Money spent at corporations and chain stores are sent out of the local economy while money spent locally continues to stay in the area. In order for the economy to function money must “flow” from one location to another, but when it becomes consolidated or stripped from an area that money ceases to support the economy through its exchange.

 If people value their health it is wise to not only shop locally but shop intelligently as well, and this truly becomes the area in which a Co-op shine. Co-ops like the local Astoria Cooperative empower their members beyond the normal routine of going up and down the aisles picking out the brands that look the most appealing based on the box they are packaged in, or the one that had that funny, witty touching commercial last week. Instead Co-ops provide the information necessary to make an educated decision. The one on one interaction with both the producers of the goods and, the farmers in the area give you the self-sufficiency to make healthy choices for both oneself and one’s family. An active effort is made through the use of pamphlet information, customer service, and product sourcing to make sure you are educated on foods you consume.

Co-ops like the Astoria Cooperative foster a sense of community for the members involved, from the farmers growing the food, to the members working the till, to fellow costumers, the Co-op has become a symbol of their collective statement; they care more for their health and the environment than the convenience of a one stop shop. This shared ideal lends a sense of community, a shared interest for which many members are not only knowledgeable but ready and willing to share their advice to the newly initiated. Such sentiments are furthered by one’s ability to effect the very products the Co-op may carry and the directions it will head in the future.

While some might think the relative cheapness and convenience of supermarket makes it the ideal location to select one’s diet these assumption rarely take in the true cost of the food we eat, but you ultimate get what you pay for. One may lessen their impact by shopping at local markets and Co-ops. Foods bought from local farms reduce the carbon foot print that food causes by traveling from the farm to their final location. Many foods you buy have never even seen a scrape of packaging, they come directly from the farm to the store. The foods at local Co-ops are often fair trade foods that don’t take advantage of farmers from foreign countries in the name of increased profits. As the conventional food system has become increasingly globalized, the risk of food safety problems, such as foodborne illness has also increased.  The consolidation of food production and processing, means that there are more possibilities for improper handling affecting massive quantities of food. Recent years have seen outbreaks affecting thousands of people being traced back to single farms and processing facilities. While it is true that one will run a higher bill when shopping for a local organic diet, but does spending a bit less outweigh the negative impact of cheapened foods?

Life is ultimately a game of “Co-operation” and if you want to do what’s best for yourself and those around you then play on the teams that’s playing for you. Shopping at your local Co-op will not only help your community, and increase your quality of life, it will probably cost a lot less than you might think. It’s time to be proud of what you eat.

Ashley Fells Essay #1: Keeping Our Small Town Cinemas Alive to Benefit Our Communities

Keeping Our Small Town Cinemas Alive to Benefit Our Communities

      This week at the Columbian Theater here in Astoria, Oregon, we are finally installing our new digital projector. It has been years in the making and has cost us, and our generous community of donors, fifty thousand dollars thus far. All over the country, small, community-oriented, and often historic theaters are being forced to shut their doors due to lack of funds for the necessary digital conversion. It is important to support local theaters and keep these businesses alive and thriving, despite the fact that there may be a corporate multi-plex up the street. Small cinemas, like the Columbian, foster a sense of community with which the larger theaters don’t even concern themselves. Theaters like ours preserve history, provide event space, and offer a more unique moving going experience.

      Through and industry-wide mandate, theaters are being forced to switch from the old medium of 35 millimeter film to digital. These digital projectors range in cost from fifty- to ninety-thousand dollars each. It is cheaper for the movie studios and film distributors to do it digitally. The prohibitive cost, however, lies on the shoulders of the theaters themselves.
Single screen establishments that only show one movie a week simply don’t have the revenue to throw down that kind of money and are being forced to close. Most theaters are making attempts to raise the money through crowd funding and benefits. Many aren’t succeeding. We, at the Columbian, are some of the lucky ones.

      Our historic, independent theaters have existed as meeting spaces for almost a hundred years. In these buildings, our communities have gathered to watch news reels and see plays, people have gotten married, and kids have grown up and gone through the jobs of the theater, from candy kid to projectionist. We have live music upon our stage and host a range of events from drag shows to benefits for a local child with cancer. I am hard pressed to think of a single place in Astoria that is as versatile as the Columbian Theater as an event space, and I am sure that goes for small theaters across the country. You cannot simply allow such a venue to close due to the medium of film changing.

      Often times, people will question the importance of a small theater such as ours when a multi-plex exists right up the street. For starters, the cost of going to the larger theaters can be downright prohibitive, especially if you are bringing children. For a child under 12 to go to the multi-plex, it is over six dollars. Adults are charged nine. Once you add in the costs of refreshments, you’re looking at a pretty expensive night out for a family. Couple this with the fact that you’re supporting an out of town corporate entity and it just seems pointless. The Columbian and most other independent theaters charge significantly less for ticket prices alone: two children and an adult can get tickets for less than the price of a single adult admission. Our concessions also run about half the price. Our theater makes just enough money to stay in business, and that’s okay by the owners. It doesn’t exist to make money. It exists because they, and we, love it.

      A common complaint about smaller theaters is that you have to wait for the movie to be shown, oftentimes weeks after it’s been released. To this I counter, going to the movies should be more than standing in line and being crammed into a huge theater to see something released on its first day. It should be about going out for a night, it should be about the experience. I, for one, would much rather wait for a few weeks and go to the Columbian with a bunch of friends. We can all afford it. We can relax on big sofas and order beer and pizza. Small theaters offer an ambiance and a feeling of community that doesn’t exist elsewhere. If I don’t see something immediately, so be it. This way is going to be entirely more fun.    

      In an attempt to help keep our downtowns alive, we must support local businesses. We can’t buy everything from Wal-Mart and we can’t see all of our movies at AMC. There needs to be something to bring people together. In many small towns, one of the cornerstones is the theater. It’s a meeting place and a cheap date night. It’s a way to put money back into our communities and keep it there. It helps to keep history alive and it provides a place for community related events. It is imperative to help your local theaters stay open by donating what you can to their digital conversion funds. The average donation we received for the Columbian through our digital conversion campaign was fifty-four dollars and we raised almost 50,000. You can make a difference in your town as well, and help your downtown thrive, by supporting your local independent theater. Every little bit helps.