TOW #30: Letter to a New APELC Student

Dear student,

            I heard you’re taking AP English Language and Composition next year, so I thought I would share some of my advice with you. You might feel intimidated now, but by the end of the year, you will feel fulfilled in the progress that you have made over the course of the year. At least, that is how I felt.

            Going into the year, I felt unsure about my writing skills, since half of the AP test is made up of three essays. Fortunately, between the practice timed essays we did in class and the weekly blog posts we wrote outside of school helped me sort out my weaknesses.

            In addition to working on writing skills, we also read and analyzed famous texts, studied new grammatical structures (or at least the name of some familiar ones), practiced multiple choice, and learned new vocabulary. For me, as intended, it was the culmination of all, or at least most of these activities, that allowed me to enter the gym in May with confidence. I think it’s important to remember one of the major goals in this class when completing an assignment: it’s there to prepare you for the exam. Everything you do in this class is there for your benefit; and the effort you put into it will be reciprocated next spring when you go to take the exam. This is not to say that the course as a high school class does not hold any weight, but I feel like setting the exam as your goal will help you during those times when you feel yourself losing steam.

            Overall, if you do the work with purpose and take advantage of the extra helps Mr. Yost offers, you will find that success is not as far off as you may have initially thought.

                                                                                                            Good luck,

                                                                                                            Walker Smith

TOW #29: Food Inc. by Robert Kenner - Claim assessment

Food, Inc. deals primarily with exposing the food industry, and therefore many of the claims put forth the film are subjective and are only relevant to this specific subject.  Nevertheless, the assertion that consumers are disconnected from the production side of food is valid, and can be supported through my own experiences.

Immediately after watching this movie, I developed an increased attention and concern over the information on food labels.  This movie had really made me think about all of the victims of this unfair system, and I wanted to try to change my ways in order to further the cause. Unfortunately, this fervor wore off in a day or two as I started to accept the reality of processed food. Instead of being reminded of the abused and genetically modified chickens at the sight of a rotisserie from the grocery store, I went along as I had before viewing the film, eating it without care of its origin. Even though I possessed knowledge of the disgusting conditions of the food industry, I chose to ignore them and move on. Through this experience I can gather that when issues or causes are not presented in a constant and engaging manner, an organization’s pleas will not resonate with people for a long enough time to facilitate real change.

In addition to the general ignorance people have towards the slaughterhouses and farms that produce the nation’s food, the companies involved do their best to limit the information available about their businesses. In the film, a number of large food companies, including Tyson and Perdue, were highlighted as declining to comment on the claims raised by Kenner. Moreover, one of the chicken farmers for Tyson explained that the footage she was allowing Kenner to film could, and did, result in violation of her contract with the corporation. In another section of the movie, the inside of a slaughterhouse was filmed through hidden cameras on workers. All of these examples illustrate the intentionally difficult process of extracting the truth from the food industry, and ultimately sustains the distance between consumers and businesses.