Ready To Eat Foods English Language Essay

Ready To Eat Foods English Language Essay Street food, which is undoubtedly an essential part of people life, is widely known as ready-to-eat foods and beverages prepared and/or sold by vendors and hawker especially in streets and other similar public places (FAO 1989 cited in Alizon 1996). Differently, Alizon defines street food as an extremely heterogeneous food category, encompassing meals, drinks and snack (1996). It cannot be denied that street food has deep impacts on eating habit of many people. In fact, a study from the FAO (2007) shows that there are approximately 2.5 billion people world-wide eating street food every day; in Bangkok, street food makes up for 40 percent in total nutrition intake of the resident. Additionally, researches indicate that it also plays a substantial socio-economy role in the employment potential. The Equity Policy Center notes that the street food trade consists 6 percent of the total labor force in Zinguinchor, Senegal and Manikganj, Bangladesh to 15 percent and 25 percent in Iloil Cit y, the Philippines, and Bogor, Indonesia, respectively (Cohen 1985 cited in Alizon 1996). Thanks to many benefits, the development of street is continuously on the rise. On the other hand, the question of whether or not street food is completely good remains controversial. Therefore, this paper, with a view to helping us have deeper knowledge about street food, will discuss its development, characteristics, advantages and disadvantages. 2. Discussion of findings 2.1 The development From the ancient time, street food was considered as a vital part of people life. There is no information suggesting the exact time when the street food appears, however, it is supposed to have appeared very early in the human history. A traveling Florentine reported in the late 1300s that in Cairo, people carried picnic cloths made of raw hide to spread on the streets and eat their meals of lamb kebabs, rice and fritters that they had purchased from street vendors. (Wikipedia) Today, like many other types of services for daily life, street food has been developed fast and be loved by billion people throughout the world. The FAO points out that the increased popularity of street food is seemed to be closely linked with the change in the lifestyle and family structure (2013). In fact, in such a modern life as nowadays, people find it difficult to have enough time to relax themselves, let alone cook and enjoy meals together regularly; therefore, many of them see street food as a perfect substitution food. As a result, the demand of street food becomes higher. Street food can be found in every part of the world, particularly in crowed cities. Look into the actual state; many people are eating street food on a regular basis and even seeing it as an indispensable part of daily life. For instant, basing on the survey did by the Nutrition Center of Ho Chi Minh city, there are over 95.5% people are utilizing street food; 51% eating street food every day and 82% using street food for breakfast (Nguyen 2003).On the other hand, thanks to the rising prevalence of street food, the street food trade also tends to be more common. There is a big number of people who are earning their life by selling street food. Specifically, Alizon (1996) mentions an estimation of EPOC indicating that in Bogor, there are approximately 18,000 vendors in a city of about 250,000; or in a smaller area like Hoankiem district, there are over 2,000 vendors (Lam 2008). With a numerous people taking part in, street food trade naturally brings a giant profit. Henrilyto (2012) s tates that the annual sale from selling food on the street in Borgor, Indonesia amount to $67 million and it is 2.2 billion in Malaysia. Obviously, street food is gradually developing and showing its impacts on aspects of our life. 2.2 The characteristics As already mentioned, street food is generally a type of fast food, which is sold popularly on the street and includes a variety of materials. Street food is more affordable, convenient and competitive in comparison with others types of food (Alizon 1996). Commonly, street food is cooked on the street and only when being offered, does the seller start to prepare; therefore, almost street food is hot and keep its best flavors. Talk about the features of street food, Dao (2008) affirms that street food is suitable for every age group, both the young and the old like eating street food. However, he also cites the hidden danger of street food for people. It is obvious that street food can be seen widely in many places, however, in each area, it has a distinct attraction. It is totally acceptable to understand that there are a plenty of types of food sold on the street and different places bring different flavors of street foods. For example, while street food in Vietnam is described as fresh and lighter than many of the cuisines in the area, the street food of Thailand is fiery and pungent with shrimp paste and fish sauce (Dorling 2011).Furthermore, to make a variety of meals, vendors often process food in a numerous ways like roasted, steamed, boiled and many others way. A study by the EPOC demonstrates that in Bogor only, a list of popular street food consists of about 300 items with majority of traditional meals and drinks (Chapman 1894 cited in Alizon 1996). With a big number of meals like this, Alizon (1996) suggests that street foods can be classified into three main types: by meal, by number and type of ingredients, and by lev el and type of processing. Clearly, the variation is an important factor; which attracts billion people each year. Not only is street food diverse in list of meals, but it also being sold in a various places. Dao (2008) suggested that the place of selling street food can be divided into five groups: selling food on transports, selling in public spaces, selling in a small house, selling in restaurant or hotel and the last is food sold in festival. In fact, street food is mostly sold in some crowed and moveable places like markets and shopping areas, commercial districts, outside schools and hospitals, residential suburbs, factories, and construction sites (Alizon 1996). Visibly, street food is sold and produced under a very simple infrastructure. 3.3The advantages and disadvantages Street food likes many others problems always having two faces: negative and positive The street food is now attracting more and more people due to many obvious benefits, namely, its low cost, convenience and its significance with some social issues. It is same in everywhere that the price of street food seems to be the least expensive in all kinds of food. Talk about the advantages of street food, Dao (2008) highlighted that street food is suitable with a majority of people because of the low price. Moreover, he also mentions that street food can satisfy many different hobbies of customers thanks to the diversity in the category. Besides the benefits above, street food also plays a meaningful role in society nowadays. Street food is expected to be a good way to introduce local culture, which attracts millions visitors each year. For instant, in the Philippines, street food is not just a plentiful source of food; it also is a fundamental part of the tradition and landscape (Henrylito 2012).It takes for granted that street food brings visitors the deep impression of lifestyle and custom in each region. Additionally, street food is considered as a potential market, which can bring a big income and create jobs for the unemployed; especially the women in urban area, whose job is usually unstable. FAO(1989) studies finds a high rate of participation of women in street food trade in some South American countries; for instant, in Colombia, 59 percent of vendors were women, and, in Peru, 64 percent (cited in Alizon,1996). However, street food can bring people some negative effects. According to Alizon (1996), the safety of street foods seems to be a major consideration, which is now under the cloud of suspicion of many people. In fact, almost food are prepared and processed under bad sanitary facilities, moreover, as mentioned before, street food is usually sold on the road or a very simple places. Therefore, street food itself carries a high risk of disease. Henrylito (2012) states that: According to experts, all street food, cooked or raw, can cause gastroenteritis, typhoid and hepatitis, depending on the bacteria or viral infection they contain. Like many other countries, street food in Vietnam develops fast; however, the safe food is one of most serious problem that Vietnam is facing to. Studies actually show that there is a high proportion of contaminated food in Vietnam. Specifically, currently up to 98% of the street food stores do not meet safety standards prescribed by the Ministry of Health (Dai 2010).According to Tran (2008), director of the National Food Safety and Hygiene, states that there are over 55 cases of poisoning food caused by street food to more than 1,300 deaths in the last three years. Thus, street food safe, which is really hard on solving, is an alarming issues not only in Vietnam, but also in many others countries throughout the world. 4. Conclusion All the findings above indicate that the increased commonness of street food is still going on in almost every part throughout the world. Undoubtedly, street food not only contributes an important part in daily diet of billion people, but it also plays a vital role in socio-economic issues in lots of areas. In contrast, street food can brings people negative effects, specifically affects people health seriously. There is a fact that the place of selling food is very simple and uncontrollable, moreover, the facilities served for processing food is also under very bad condition. Therefore, street food is always at high risk of diseases. Thus, it cannot be denied that people can take many advantages of street food. However, health is obviously the most important issue so it is necessary to consider carefully about where we should eat street food to ensure a good health. REFERENCES LIST: Alizon, Ph.D.1996, Street food in developing countries: The potential for micronutrient fortification, viewed 5 March 2013 http://pdf.usaid.gov/pdf_docs/PNACJ872.pdf Chapman 1894 cited in Alizon Draper, Ph.D.1996, Street food in developing countries :The potential for micronutrient fortification, viewed 5 March 2013, http://pdf.usaid.gov/pdf_docs/PNACJ872.pdf Cohen 1985 cited in Alizon Draper, Ph.D.1996, Street food in developing countries :The potential for micronutrient fortification, viewed 5 March 2013, http://pdf.usaid.gov/pdf_docs/PNACJ872.pdf Dai, D. 2010, 98% cÆ ¡ sà ¡Ã‚ »Ã… ¸ thà ¡Ã‚ »Ã‚ ©c ăn Ä‘Æ °Ãƒ ¡Ã‚ »Ã‚ ng phà ¡Ã‚ »Ã¢â‚¬Ëœ khà ´ng Ä‘Ã ¡Ã‚ ºÃ‚ ¡t chuà ¡Ã‚ ºÃ‚ ©n và ¡Ã‚ »Ã¢â‚¬ ¡ sinh, viewed 5 March 2013, http://www.tin247.com/98_co_so_thuc_an_duong_pho_khong_dat_chuan_ve_sinh-10- 21574351.html Dao, M.T.2008, Ve sinh an toan thuc pham thuc an duong pho cho nguoi tieu dung, viewed 5 March 2013, http://www.medinet.hochiminhcity.gov.vn/data/news/2008/4/5397/vesinhantoanthucpham.htm Dorling, K.2011, Street food, viewed 5 March 2013, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Street_food Food and Agriculture Organization 1989,A summary of FAO studies and other activities relating to street cited in Alizon Draper ,Ph.D.1996, Street food in developing countries :The potential for micronutrient fortification, viewed 5 March 2013, http://pdf.usaid.gov/pdf_docs/PNACJ872.pdf Food and Agriculture Organization 2007,Street food, viewed 5 March 2013, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Street_food Food and Agriculture Organization 2013, Food processing and street food, viewed 5 March 2013, http://www.fao.org/fcit/food-processing/en/ Henrilyto, D.T.2012, Street food: to eat or not to eat, viewed 5 March 2013, http://www.sunstar.com.ph/weekend-davao/street-food-eat-or-not-eat Lam, Q.H.2008, Ä Ãƒ ¡Ã‚ »Ã‚  xuà ¡Ã‚ ºÃ‚ ¥t cà ¡Ã‚ ºÃ‚ ¥m bà ¡n hà  ng rong trà ªn hà ¨ phà ¡Ã‚ »Ã¢â‚¬Ëœ Hà   Nà ¡Ã‚ »Ã¢â€ž ¢i ,viewed 5 March 2013, http://www.baomoi.com/De-xuat-cam-ban-hang-rong-tren-he-pho-Ha-Noi/144/1257108.epi Nguyen, L. 2003, Hià ¡Ã‚ »Ã†â€™m hoà ¡Ã‚ ºÃ‚ ¡ tà ¡Ã‚ »Ã‚ « thà ¡Ã‚ »Ã‚ ©c ăn Ä‘Æ °Ãƒ ¡Ã‚ »Ã‚ ng phà ¡Ã‚ »Ã¢â‚¬Ëœ: Cà ³ nà ªn cà ¡Ã‚ ºÃ‚ ¥p phà ©p bà ¡n hà  ng?, viewed 5 March 2013, http://dddn.com.vn/38810cat104/hiem-hoa-tu-thuc-an-duong-pho-co-nen-cap-phep-ban-hang.htm Street food, viewed 5 March 2013, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Street_food Tran, D. 2008, Thà ¡Ã‚ »Ã‚ ©c ăn Ä‘Æ °Ãƒ ¡Ã‚ »Ã‚ ng phà ¡Ã‚ »Ã¢â‚¬Ëœ Mà ¡Ã‚ »Ã¢â‚¬Ëœi nguy thà ¡Ã‚ »Ã‚ i khuà ¡Ã‚ ºÃ‚ ©n tà ¡Ã‚ ºÃ‚ £! , viewed 5 March 2013, http://www.tin247.com/thuc_an_duong_pho_moi_nguy_thoi_khuan_ta%21-1-6640.html

Themes in White Noise by Don DeLillo Essay -- White Noise Don DeLillo

White Noise â€Å"The world†¦is crowded, not necessarily with occupants and not at all with memorable experiences, but with happenings; it is a ceaseless flow of seductive trivialities which invoke neither reflection, nor choice but instant participation.† (Oakeshott) The idea of the lacking of realness is one of the major themes carried out throughout the novel White Noise by Don DeLillo, especially through the device of the television. â€Å"For most people there are only two places in the world. Where they live and their TV set. If a thing happens on television, we have every right to find it fascinating, whatever it is.† (DeLillo 66) The television in the novel White Noise is portrayed almost as a character and plays a significant role in the lives of the individuals in the story. The TV set is always on in the house and emits a constant flow of words, sounds, and images into the home. McCarthy depicts the TV set itself as â€Å"both a piece of furniture in a room and a window to an imaged elsewhere, both a commodity and a way of looking at commodities.† (1) In other words, not only is the television an American commodity, it also gives rise to hundreds upon thousands of other â€Å"must-haves†. There is hardly a home in America lacking at least one television set, giving this mode of communication enormous influence ability. â€Å"The world has but one language, soon learned: the language of appetite.† (Oakeshott 41) In order to feed this appetite Americans especially, glue their eyes to the TV to see what new ways of living and new products are out there to make their lives better. The character, Jack Gladney shows this modern-day way of thinking when he goes shopping at the mall. After looking at the â€Å"mass and variety† of hi... ... nothing" since "there is no media in Iron City." (DeLillo 92) To the characters as well as to most of society, only the amount of coverage of the incident by the media brings the event into existence. It wouldn’t matter how many casualties how many lives ruined if the occurrences weren’t captured on film and plastered over every news station. â€Å"For most people, events are not ‘news’ unless they appear on television.† (Johnson 212) Once again this is seen when the refugees from the toxic cloud are upset that they only got fifty-two words on television, and not even on network news. â€Å"Are they telling us that it was insignificant†¦? Do they think this is just television? ... Don’t they know it’s real?† (DeLillo 162) Once again this concept that remains throughout the entire novel of distinguishing real from not real is brought up, and once again, is misunderstood.

Black House Chapter Ten

10 AS THE CRUISER with Tom Lund behind the wheel noses down Third Street to Chase roof-rack lights decorously dark, siren off Dale takes out his wallet and begins digging through the mess in the back: business cards people have given him, a few dog-eared photographs, little licks of folded-over notebook paper. On one of the latter he finds what he wants. â€Å"Whatcha doin', boss?† Tom asks. â€Å"None of your beeswax. Just drive the car.† Dale grabs the phone from its spot on the console, grimaces and wipes off the residue of someone's powdered doughnut, then, without much hope, dials the number of Jack Sawyer's cell phone. He starts to smile when the phone is answered on the fourth ring, but the smile metamorphoses into a frown of puzzlement. He knows that voice and should recognize it, but â€Å"Hello?† says the person who has apparently answered Jack's cell phone. â€Å"Speak now, whoever you are, or forever hold your peace.† Then Dale knows. Would have known immediately if he had been at home or in his office, but in this context â€Å"Henry?† he says, knowing he sounds stupid but not able to help it. â€Å"Uncle Henry, is that you?† Jack is piloting his truck across the Tamarack Bridge when the cell phone in his pants pocket starts its annoying little tweet. He takes it out and taps the back of Henry's hand with it. â€Å"Deal with this,† he says. â€Å"Cell phones give you brain cancer.† â€Å"Which is okay for me but not for you.† â€Å"More or less, yeah.† â€Å"That's what I love about you, Jack,† Henry says, and opens the phone with a nonchalant flick of the wrist. â€Å"Hello?† And, after a pause: â€Å"Speak now, whoever you are, or forever hold your peace.† Jack glances at him, then back at the road. They're coming up on Roy's Store, where the early shopper gets the best greens. â€Å"Yes, Dale. It is indeed your esteemed † Henry listens, frowning a little bit and smiling a little bit. â€Å"I'm in Jack's truck, with Jack,† he says. â€Å"George Rathbun isn't working this morning because KDCU is covering the Summer Marathon over in La Riv â€Å" He listens some more, then says: â€Å"If it's a Nokia which is what it feels like and sounds like then it's digital rather than analog. Wait.† He looks at Jack. â€Å"Your cell,† he says. â€Å"It's a Nokia?† â€Å"Yes, but why â€Å" â€Å"Because digital phones are supposedly harder to snoop,† Henry says, and goes back to the phone. â€Å"It's a digital, and I'll put him on. I'm sure Jack can explain everything.† Henry hands him the telephone, folds his hands primly in his lap, and looks out the window exactly as he would if surveying the scenery. And maybe he is, Jack thinks. Maybe in some weird fruit-bat way, he really is. He pulls over to the shoulder on Highway 93. He doesn't like the cell phone to begin with twenty-first-century slave bracelets, he thinks them but he absolutely loathes driving while talking on one. Besides, Irma Freneau isn't going anywhere this morning. â€Å"Dale?† he says. â€Å"Where are you?† Dale asks, and Jack knows at once that the Fisherman has been busy elsewhere, too. As long as it's not another dead kid, he thinks. Not that, not yet, please. â€Å"How come you're with Henry? Is Fred Marshall there, too?† Jack tells him about the change in plan, and is about to go on when Dale breaks in. â€Å"Whatever you're doing, I want you to get your ass out to a place called Ed's Eats and Dawgs, near Goltz's. Henry can help you find it. The Fisherman called the station, Jack. He called 911. Told us Irma Freneau's body is out there. Well, not in so many words, but he did say she.† Dale is not quite babbling, but almost. Jack notes this as any good clinician would note the symptoms of a patient. â€Å"I need you, Jack. I really â€Å" â€Å"That's where we were headed anyway,† Jack says quietly, although they are going absolutely nowhere at this moment, just sitting on the shoulder while the occasional car blips past on 93. â€Å"What?† Hoping that Dale and Henry are right about the virtues of digital technology, Jack tells French Landing's police chief about his morning delivery, aware that Henry, although still looking out the window, is listening sharply. He tells Dale that Ty Marshall's cap was on top of the box with the feathers and Irma's foot inside it. â€Å"Holy . . .† Dale says, sounding out of breath. â€Å"Holy shit.† â€Å"Tell me what you've done,† Jack says, and Dale does. It sounds pretty good so far, at least but Jack doesn't like the part about Arnold Hrabowski. The Mad Hungarian has impressed him as the sort of fellow who will never be able to behave like a real cop, no matter how hard he tries. Back in L.A., they used to call the Arnie Hrabowskis of the world Mayberry RFDs. â€Å"Dale, what about the phone at the 7-Eleven?† â€Å"It's a pay phone,† Dale says, as if speaking to a child. â€Å"Yes, but there could be fingerprints,† Jack says. â€Å"I mean, there are going to be billions of fingerprints, but forensics can isolate the freshest. Easily. He might have worn gloves, but maybe not. If he's leaving messages and calling cards as well as writing to the parents, he's gone Stage Two. Killing isn't enough for him anymore. He wants to play you now. Play with you. Maybe he even wants to be caught and stopped, like Son of Sam.† â€Å"The phone. Fresh fingerprints on the phone.† Dale sounds badly humiliated, and Jack's heart goes out to him. â€Å"Jack, I can't do this. I'm lost.† This is something to which Jack chooses not to speak. Instead he says, â€Å"Who've you got who can see to the phone?† â€Å"Dit Jesperson and Bobby Dulac, I guess.† Bobby, Jack thinks, is entirely too good to waste for long at the 7-Eleven outside town. â€Å"Just have them crisscross the phone with yellow tape and talk to the guy on duty. Then they can come on out to the site.† â€Å"Okay.† Dale hesitates, then asks a question. The defeat in it, the sense of almost complete abrogation, makes Jack sad. â€Å"Anything else?† â€Å"Have you called the State Police? County? Does that FBI guy know? The one who thinks he looks like Tommy Lee Jones?† Dale snorts. â€Å"Uh . . . actually, I'd decided to sit on notification for a little while.† â€Å"Good,† Jack says, and the savage satisfaction in his voice causes Henry to turn from his blind regard of the countryside and regard his friend instead, eyebrows raised. Let us rise up again on wings as eagles, as the Reverend Lance Hovdahl, French Landing's Lutheran pastor, might say and fly down the black ribbon of Highway 93, back toward town. We reach Route 35 and turn right. Closer and to our right is the overgrown lane that leads not to a dragon's hidden gold or secret dwarf mines but to that peculiarly unpleasant black house. A little farther on, we can see the futuristic dome shape of Goltz's (well . . . it seemed futuristic in the seventies, at least). All our landmarks are in place, including the rubbly, weedy path that shoots off from the main road to the left. This is the track that leads to the remains of Ed Gilbertson's erstwhile palace of guilty pleasures. Let us flutter onto the telephone line just across from this track. Hot gossip tickles our birdy feet: Paula Hrabowski's friend Myrtle Harrington passing on the news of the dead body (or bodies) at Ed's to Richie Bumstead, who will in turn pass it on to Beezer St. Pierre, grieving father and spiritual leader of the Thunder Five. This passage of voices through the wire probably shouldn't please us, but it does. Gossip is no doubt nasty stuff, but it does energize the human spirit. Now, from the west comes the cruiser with Tom Lund at the wheel and Dale Gilbertson in the shotgun seat. And from the east comes Jack's burgundy-colored Ram pickup. They reach the turnoff to Ed's at the same time. Jack motions for Dale to go first, then follows him. We take wing, fly above and then ahead of them. We roost on the rusty Esso gas pump to watch developments. Jack drives slowly down the lane to the half-collapsed building that stands in a scruff of high weeds and goldenrod. He's looking for any sign of passage, and sees only the fresh tracks made by Dale and Tom's police car. â€Å"We've got the place to ourselves,† he informs Henry. â€Å"Yes, but for how long?† Not very would have been Jack's answer, had he bothered to give one. Instead, he pulls up next to Dale's car and gets out. Henry rolls down his window but stays put, as ordered. Ed's was once a simple wooden building about the length of a Burlington Northern boxcar and with a boxcar's flat roof. At the south end, you could buy sof'-serve ice cream from one of three windows. At the north end you could get your nasty hot dog or your even nastier order of fish and chips to go. In the middle was a small sit-down restaurant featuring a counter and red-top stools. Now the south end has entirely collapsed, probably from the weight of snow. All the windows have been broken in. There's some graffiti So-and-so chugs cock, we fucked Patty Jarvis untill she howelled, TROY LUVS MARYANN but not as much as Jack might have expected. All but one of the stools have been looted. Crickets are conversing in the grass. They're loud, but not as loud as the flies inside the ruined restaurant. There are lots of flies in there, a regular fly convention in progress. And â€Å"Do you smell it?† Dale asks him. Jack nods. Of course he does. He's smelled it already today, but now it's worse. Because there's more of Irma out here to send up a stink. Much more than what would fit into a single shoe box. Tom Lund has produced a handkerchief and is mopping his broad, distressed face. It's warm, but not warm enough to account for the sweat streaming off his face and brow. And his skin is pasty. â€Å"Officer Lund,† Jack says. â€Å"Huh!† Tom jumps and looks rather wildly around at Jack. â€Å"You may have to vomit. If you feel you must, do it over there.† Jack points to an overgrown track, even more ancient and ill-defined than the one leading in from the main road. This one seems to meander in the direction of Goltz's. â€Å"I'll be okay,† Tom says. â€Å"I know you will. But if you need to unload, don't do it on what may turn out to be evidence.† â€Å"I want you to start stringing yellow tape around the entire building,† Dale tells his officer. â€Å"Jack? A word?† Dale puts a hand on Jack's forearm and starts walking back toward the truck. Although he's got a good many things on his mind, Jack notices how strong that hand is. And no tremble in it. Not yet, anyway. â€Å"What is it?† Jack asks impatiently when they're standing near the passenger window of the truck. â€Å"We want a look before the whole world gets here, don't we? Wasn't that the idea, or am I â€Å" â€Å"You need to get the foot, Jack,† Dale says. And then: â€Å"Hello, Uncle Henry, you look spiff.† â€Å"Thanks,† Henry says. â€Å"What are you talking about?† Jack asks. â€Å"That foot is evidence.† Dale nods. â€Å"I think it ought to be evidence found here, though. Unless, of course, you relish the idea of spending twenty-four hours or so answering questions in Madison.† Jack opens his mouth to tell Dale not to waste what little time they have with arrant idiocies, then closes it again. It suddenly occurs to him how his possession of that foot might look to minor-league smarties like Detectives Brown and Black. Maybe even to a major-league smarty like John Redding of the FBI. Brilliant cop retires at an impossibly young age, and to the impossibly bucolic town of French Landing, Wisconsin. He has plenty of scratch, but the source of income is blurry, to say the least. And oh, look at this, all at once there's a serial killer operating in the neighborhood. Maybe the brilliant cop has got a loose screw. Maybe he's like those firemen who enjoy the pretty flames so much they get into the arson game themselves. Certainly Dale's Color Posse would have to wonder why the Fisherman would send an early retiree like Jack a victim's body part. And the hat, Jack thinks. Don't forget Ty's baseball cap. All at once he knows how Dale felt when Jack told him that the phone at the 7-Eleven had to be cordoned off. Exactly. â€Å"Oh man,† he says. â€Å"You're right.† He looks at Tom Lund, industriously running yellow POLICE LINE tape while butterflies dance around his shoulders and the flies continue their drunken buzzing from the shadows of Ed's Eats. â€Å"What about him?† â€Å"Tom will keep his mouth shut,† Dale says, and on that Jack decides to trust him. He wouldn't, had it been the Hungarian. â€Å"I owe you one,† Jack says. â€Å"Yep,† Henry agrees from his place in the passenger seat. â€Å"Even a blind man could see he owes you one.† â€Å"Shut up, Uncle Henry,† Dale says. â€Å"Yes, mon capitaine.† â€Å"What about the cap?† Jack asks. â€Å"If we find anything else of Ty Marshall's . . .† Dale pauses, then swallows. â€Å"Or Ty himself, we'll leave it. If not, you keep it for the time being.† â€Å"I think maybe you just saved me a lot of major irritation,† Jack says, leading Dale to the back of the truck. He opens the stainless steel box behind the cab, which he hasn't bothered to lock for the run out here, and takes out one of the trash-can liners. From inside it comes the slosh of water and the clink of a few remaining ice cubes. â€Å"The next time you get feeling dumb, you might remind yourself of that.† Dale ignores this completely. â€Å"Ohgod,† he says, making it one word. He's looking at the Baggie that has just emerged from the trash-can liner. There are beads of water clinging to the transparent sides. â€Å"The smell of it!† Henry says with undeniable distress. â€Å"Oh, the poor child!† â€Å"You can smell it even through the plastic?† Jack asks. â€Å"Yes indeed. And coming from there.† Henry points at the ruined restaurant and then produces his cigarettes. â€Å"If I'd known, I would have brought a jar of Vicks and an El Producto.† In any case, there's no need to walk the Baggie with the gruesome artifact inside it past Tom Lund, who has now disappeared behind the ruins with his reel of yellow tape. â€Å"Go on in,† Dale instructs Jack quietly. â€Å"Get a look and take care of the thing in that Baggie if you find . . . you know . . . her. I want to speak to Tom.† Jack steps through the warped, doorless doorway into the thickening stench. Outside, he can hear Dale instructing Tom to send Pam Stevens and Danny Tcheda back down to the end of the access road as soon as they arrive, where they will serve as passport control. The interior of Ed's Eats will probably be bright by afternoon, but now it is shadowy, lit mostly by crazed, crisscrossing rays of sun. Galaxies of dust spin lazily through them. Jack steps carefully, wishing he had a flashlight, not wanting to go back and get one from the cruiser until he's taken care of the foot. (He thinks of this as â€Å"redeployment.†) There are human tracks through the dust, trash, and drifts of old gray feathers. The tracks are man-sized. Weaving in and out of them are a dog's paw-prints. Off to his left, Jack spies a neat little pile of droppings. He steps around the rusty remains of an overturned gas grill and follows both sets of tracks around the filthy counter. Outside, the second French Landing cruiser is rolling up. In here, in this darker world, the sound of the flies has become a soft roar and the stench . . . the stench . . . Jack fishes a handkerchief from his pocket and places it over his nose as he follows the tracks into the kitchen. Here the pawprints multiply and the human footprints disappear completely. Jack thinks grimly of the circle of beaten-down grass he made in the field of that other world, a circle with no path of beaten-down grass leading to it. Lying against the far wall near a pool of dried blood is what remains of Irma Freneau. The mop of her filthy strawberry-blond hair mercifully obscures her face. Above her on a rusty piece of tin that probably once served as a heat shield for the deep-fat fryers, two words have been written with what Jack feels sure was a black Sharpie marker: Hello boys â€Å"Ah, fuck,† Dale Gilbertson says from almost directly behind him, and Jack nearly screams. Outside, the snafu starts almost immediately. Halfway back down the access road, Danny and Pam (not in the least disappointed to have been assigned guard duty once they have actually seen the slumped ruin of Ed's and smelled the aroma drifting from it) nearly have a head-on with an old International Harvester pickup that is bucketing toward Ed's at a good forty miles an hour. Luckily, Pam swings the cruiser to the right and the driver of the pickup Teddy Runkleman swings left. The vehicles miss each other by inches and swerve into the grass on either side of this poor excuse for a road. The pickup's rusty bumper thumps against a small birch. Pam and Danny get out of their unit, hearts pumping, adrenaline spurting. Four men come spilling out of the pickup's cab like clowns out of the little car in the circus. Mrs. Morton would recognize them all as regulars at Roy's Store. Layabouts, she would call them. â€Å"What in the name of God are you doing?† Danny Tcheda roars. His hand drops to the butt of his gun and then falls away a bit reluctantly. He's getting a headache. The men (Runkleman is the only one the officers know by name, although between them they recognize the faces of the other three) are goggle-eyed with excitement. â€Å"How many ja find?† one of them spits. Pam can actually see the spittle spraying out in the morning air, a sight she could have done without. â€Å"How many'd the bastid kill?† Pam and Danny exchange a single dismayed look. And before they can reply, holy God, here comes an old Chevrolet Bel Air with another four or five men inside it. No, one of them is a woman. They pull up and spill out, also like clowns from the little car. But we're the real clowns, Pam thinks. Us. Pam and Danny are surrounded by eight semihysterical men and one semihysterical woman, all of them throwing questions. â€Å"Hell, I'm going up there and see for myself!† Teddy Runkleman shouts, almost jubilantly, and Danny realizes the situation is on the verge of spinning out of control. If these fools get the rest of the way up the access road, Dale will first tear him a new asshole and then salt it down. â€Å"HOLD IT RIGHT THERE, ALL OF YOU!† he bawls, and actually draws his gun. It's a first for him, and he hates the weight of it in his hand these are ordinary people, after all, not bad guys but it gets their attention. â€Å"This is a crime scene,† Pam says, finally able to speak in a normal tone of voice. They mutter and look at one another; worst fears confirmed. She steps to the driver of the Chevrolet. â€Å"Who are you, sir? A Saknessum? You look like a Saknessum.† â€Å"Freddy,† he admits. â€Å"Well, you get back in your vehicle, Freddy Saknessum, and the rest of you who came with him also get in, and you back the hell right out of here. Don't bother trying to turn around, you'll just get stuck.† â€Å"But † the woman begins. Pam thinks she's a Sanger, a clan of fools if ever there was one. â€Å"Stow it and go,† Pam tells her. â€Å"And you right behind him,† Danny tells Teddy Runkleman. He just hopes to Christ no more will come along, or they'll end up trying to manage a parade in reverse. He doesn't know how the news got out, and at this moment can't afford to care. â€Å"Unless you want a summons for interfering with a police investigation. That can get you five years.† He has no idea if there is such a charge, but it gets them moving even better than the sight of his pistol. The Chevrolet backs out, rear end wagging from side to side like a dog's tail. Runkleman's pickup goes next, with two of the men standing up in back and peering over the cab, trying to catch sight of the old restaurant's roof, at least. Their curiosity lends them a look of unpleasant vacuity. The P.D. unit comes last, herding the old car and older truck like a corgi herding sheep, roof-rack lights now pulsing. Pam is forced to ride mostly on the brake, and as she drives she lets loose a low-pitched stream of words her mother never taught her. â€Å"Do you kiss your kids good-night with that mouth?† Danny asks, not without admiration. â€Å"Shut up,† she says. Then: â€Å"You got any aspirin?† â€Å"I was going to ask you the same thing,† Danny says. They get back out to the main road just in time. Three more vehicles are coming from the direction of French Landing, two from the direction of Centralia and Arden. A siren rises in the warming air. Another cruiser, the third in what was supposed to be an unobtrusive line, is coming along, passing the lookie-loos from town. â€Å"Oh man.† Danny sounds close to tears. â€Å"Oh man, oh man, oh man. It's gonna be a carnival, and I bet the staties still don't know. They'll have kittens. Dale is gonna have kittens.† â€Å"It'll be all right,† Pam says. â€Å"Calm down. We'll just pull across the road and park. Also stick your gun back in the fucking holster.† â€Å"Yes, Mother.† He stows his piece as Pam swings across the access road, pulling back to let the third cruiser through, then pulling forward again to block the way. â€Å"Yeah, maybe we caught it in time to put a lid on it.† â€Å"Course we did.† They relax a little. Both of them have forgotten the old stretch of road that runs between Ed's and Goltz's, but there are plenty of folks in town who know about it. Beezer St. Pierre and his boys, for instance. And while Wendell Green does not, guys like him always seem able to find the back way. They've got an instinct for it.

The Spirit Catches You and You Fall Down - Free Essay Example

Sample details Pages: 11 Words: 3341 Downloads: 2 Date added: 2017/09/22 Category Advertising Essay Type Argumentative essay Did you like this example? Cross-Cultural Family Assessment Stephanie Boardman University of Southern Maine 1. The client system, in this case the Lee family, defines Lia’s seizures as both a spiritual and physical ailment. According to Fadiman (1997), â€Å"†¦the noise of the door had been so profoundly frightening that her soul had fled her body and become lost. They recognized the resulting symptoms as qaug dab peg, which means ‘the spirit catches you and you fall down’†(p. 20). To the Lee family, Lia’s condition was as revered as it was frightening. While a person with qaug dab peg was traditionally held in high esteem in the Hmong culture, it was also terrifying enough that the Lee’s rushed Lia to the emergency room more than once in the first few months of her life. 2. While the Lees recognized that Lia had an illness, I do not believe that they recognized the severity of her problems. One the one hand, the understood that it was a dangerous illnes s, but on the other hand, the Hmong believed that qaug dab peg â€Å"singles him out as a person of consequence† (Fadiman, 1997, p. 21). At times, the Lees believed that Lia’s epilepsy wasn’t as much of a medical problem as a gift. Fadiman tells us, â€Å"They therefore hoped, at least most of the time, that the qaug dab peg could be healed† (p. 22). So while they recognized that Lia was sick, they also had hope that she could be cured. Their hope was that if the spirits decided to keep hold of Lia, that long-term she would become a Tvix neeb, a â€Å"person with a healing spirit† (as cited in Fadiman, 1997, p. 21). If she did not become a Tvix neeb, then their hope was that the sickness would be short-term. It seems that either way, they had no idea what the future held for Lia. They could only hope for the best. 3. Fadiman does not tell us what the Lees did the first time Lia had a seizure. She does tell us that the Lees brought Lia to the emergency room for the first time on October 24, 1982 when she was only three months old (Fadiman, 1997, p. 25) and was admitted to the hospital seventeen times before the age of four and a half (Fadiman, 1997, p. 38). Because of the cultural and language barriers between the doctors and the Lees, there was a lot of mix up and confusion as to the medications that Lia should have been given As a result, the Lees were either giving Lia too much or too little medicine. Dan Murphy, one of the first physicians to encounter Lia at the hospital tells us that, â€Å"The parents report that they had discontinued the medications about 3 months ago because the patient was doing so well† (as cited in Fadiman, 1997, p. 53). Just before her second birthday, Lia was removed from her parents’ custody and placed in foster care for a minimum of six months. When the Lees â€Å"failed to demonstrate their ability to comply with their daughter’s medical regimen† (Fadiman, 1997, p. 89), the court decided that Lia remain in foster care. In February of 1986, Lia’s medication became a lot easier to administer when a doctor prescribed only one medication to take the place of the many she had been receiving. With the help the social worker, Jeanine Hilt, Foua Lee (Lia’s mother) practiced giving this â€Å"medication† with a syringe and water until she got it just right, and then was able to administer it to her own daughter. Thanks to the empowerment provided to the Lees by Jeanine, Lia returned home on April 30, 1986. When Lia did return home, Fadiman tells is that the Lees sacrificed a cow to â€Å"celebrate her homecoming and bolster her health† (p. 06). Fadiman also tells us that â€Å"In order to keep Lia’s condition from deteriorating further, the Less stepped up their program of traditional medicine† (p. 110). They tied expensive herbal amulets around her neck, pinched Lia to â€Å"draw out noxious winds † (Fadiman, 1997, p 111), sacrificed many pigs and chickens, and even tried changing her name to confuse the dab who had taken her soul. The final act of healing that Fadiman write about recounts the Lees bringing in a Txiv neeb to perform a healing ceremony for Lia. Fadiman (1997) writes the following: It was Lia’s turn now. Foua and Nao Kao believed that her condition was probably beyond the reach of spiritual healing†¦And there was still the faintest flicker of a chance, not altogether extinguished even after years of failed sacrifices, that Lia’s soul would be found after all, that the dabs who were keeping it would accept the pig’s soul in its stead, and that she would be restored to health. (p. 283) 4. There were many people affected by the Lia’s seizures and the cultural clashes that ensued. I will focus on the two that seemed most significant. The first people who were affected were her family, namely her parents. Nao Kao and Foua were obviously distressed that their youngest daughter was having these seizures. The Hmong in general are excellent parents, providing their children with an extraordinary amount of love and attention (Fadiman, 1997, p. 22) and I can’t even imagine the amount of grief the Lees dealt with as they watched Lia’s soul slip away during those several tumultuous years of her life. Because the Lees blamed the medical system for the end result of Lia’s vegetative state, they became increasingly angry people, Nao Kao in particular. Fadiman tells us how angry he was several times in the book, angry enough to try to steal Lia away from the hospital (p. 213). While Foua more evenly tempered than her husband, she did show severe signs of depression and even suicide when Lia was first taken away from them and placed in foster care (Fadiman, 1997, p. 89). Regardless of Lia’s condition, the one thing that was never affected was the love the Lees had for Lia. If anyth ing, Lia became â€Å"her parents’ favorite, the child they considered most beautiful, the one who was dressed in the most exquisite garments† (Fadiman, 1997, p. 3). The doctors involved were also deeply affected, namely Neil Ernst and Peggy Philp, the two supervising pediatricians at MCMC who were also married to each other. The two were known for their â€Å"glacial unflappability† (Fadiman, 1997, p. 56). Referring to a Pediatric Clinic Note regarding the Lees inability (intentionally or otherwise) to give Lia her medicine, Fadiman (1997) tells us, â€Å"Neil said he could still remember the rage he had felt when he wrote it. He and Peggy†¦couldn’t remember a case that had made them feel this way. I remember wanting to shake the parents so that they would understand,’ said Peggy† (p. 56). Even though they were incredibly frustrated with the situation and the Lees, they never gave up on Lia. Neil was on duty at the clinic when the Lees brought Lia in for a checkup after her grand mal seizure. He tells us, â€Å"That first visit was very significant for me†¦And what absolutely blew me away is that I, well I was afraid they were going to blame me for what happened, but the mother showed me compassion† (Fadiman, 1997, p. 213). Neil and Peggy seemed to live in this constant state of guilt, feeling like they were the ones to blame for the Lia’s outcome. 5. Because of the cultural clash between the Lees and the doctors, the Lees became even more wary of Americans and their culture. They already felt like outsiders, people who didn’t belong in this country. In a conversation that Foua had with Fadiman, Foua told her, â€Å"I am very stupid†¦because I don’t know anything here. I don’t know your language. America is so hard†¦in Laos it was easy. I didn’t know how to do anything but farm (Fadiman, 1997, p. 03). When Lia became sick, they tried using their own way s of healing to make her well, but were told they were wrong. In our textbook, we are told that â€Å"social functioning encompasses striving toward a lifestyle that meets basic needs, establishing positive relationships, and accentuating personal growth and adjustment† (DuBois Miley, 2011, p. 63). While the Lees social functioning within the Hmong culture was effective, the same was not to be said for their functioning in American culture. Fadiman (1997) writes, â€Å"Indeed, as George M. Scott, Jr. has observed, the Hmong have responded to the hardships of life in the United States ‘by becoming more Hmong, rather than less so’† (p. 208). I believe that such is true of Nao Kao and Foua Lee. 6. Certainly, the value of the sanctity of life crossed the cultural barriers and was displayed by both the Lees and the medical personnel. Lia’s life was the most important thing, the bottom line. I also think that the values of religion and ethnic heritage al so played an important role in the cultural clash, but not in the same positive way that the sanctity of life played. The Lees believed that through animal sacrifices, traditional tvix neeb ceremonies and traditional Hmong medicines, that Lia would be cured. On one hand, the doctors thought the Lees were deliberately putting their child at risk by their refusal to give the proper dosages of medicine, or refusing to give Lia her medicine at all. Fadiman (1997) tells us, â€Å"†¦no one could deny that if the Lees had given Lia her anti-convulsive medications from the beginning, she might have had-might still be having-something approaching a normal life† (p. 258). The Lees thought they were doing the right thing by their culture and standards, while the doctors thought the Lees were negligent. On the other hand, the Lees blamed the medicine, procedures and doctors for putting Lia in her final vegetative state. In regards to a spinal tap done on Lia, Nao Kao told Fadi man, â€Å"The doctors put a hole in her back before we got to the hospital†¦and it makes me disappointed and sad because that is how Lia was lost† (as cited in Fadiman, 1997, p. 148). Foua’s response was much the same: â€Å"They just took her to the hospital and they didn’t fix her. She got very sick and I think it is because they gave her too much medicine† (as cited in Fadiman, 1997, p. 148). 7. Once the Lees became compliant with Lia’s medicine routine, I believe that became a step in the right direction for change. It is never a question if Nao Kao and Foua loved Lia. As described in question four, the Lees loved Lia very much and favored her over the other children. Because of this love, they wouldn’t and have not, stopped fighting for Lia’s life. These are certainly great family strengths and competencies. An environmental strength was that the Lees were living in Merced, whose hospital housed two of the countryâ₠¬â„¢s best pediatricians, Neil Ernst and Peggy Philp. Neil and Peggy were certainly committed to making Lia well again. Another environmental strength was having Jeanine IHinnnnnHilt as their social worker. Neil Ernst tells us that â€Å"Jeanine took on the Lees like a crusade†¦Jeanine was an incredible patient advocate. There was nothing she wouldn’t do for this kid† (as cited in Fadiman, 1997, p. 114). Certainly having someone like Jenny, as Foua called her, on their side was a great strength. . As stated in the above question, Jeanine was the social worker helping the Lee family. The Lee family loved Jeanine very much. Fadiman (1997) tells us of Jeanine, â€Å"†¦the Lees chose to categorize her not as Lia’s abductor but as her patron, ‘the person who gave Lia her disability money’†¦she was also the only American I ever heard Foua or Nao Kao refer to by name† (pp. 112-113). Upon hearing of Jeanine’s death in 1993, Foua told Fadiman (1997), â€Å"When I heard Jenny was dead, my heart broke†¦I felt I had lost my American daughter† (p. 252). Clearly, Jeanine was one of the few Americans that the Lees actually accepted. Neil and Peggy were also accepted and loved by the Lees. â€Å"Their understanding of the Lees, and the Lees’ understanding of them, deepened significantly when they, too, experienced a child’s grave illness† (Fadiman, 1997, p. 252). Neil wrote a letter to Fadiman and told her about a time that Foua had encountered Peggy at the clinic. In the letter, he wrote: â€Å"Mrs. Lee was very concerned about Toby’s health, how he was doing etc. There was very genuine concern expressed by her questions and facial expression. At the end of the visit Mrs. Lee was hugging Peggy and they were both shedding a few tears. Sorrows of motherhood cut through all cultural barriers† (as cited in Fadiman, 1997, p. 252). 9. a. Neil and Peggy’s value s, ethics and principles certainly guided their interactions with the Lee family. Neil told Fadiman that one of the main reasons they chose to work in Merced was â€Å"to serve underserved people regardless of their form of payment† (as cited in Fadiman, 1997, p. 57). The value of human life was too great to Neil and Peggy for them to just go where there was money to made. Neil also exhibited ethical behavior when admitting his own mistakes and regrets to Fadiman when she asked if he wished he had done anything differently with Lia. He said, â€Å"I wish we’d used Depakene sooner. I wish I’d accepted that it would be easier for the family to comply with one medicine instead of three, even if three seemed medically optimal†¦Lia taught me that when there is a very dense cultural barrier, you do the best you can, and if something happens despite that, you have to be satisfied with little successes instead of total successes. You have to give up total co ntrol. That is very hard for me, but I do try. I think that Lia made me into a less rigid person† (as cited in Fadiman, 1997, p. 257). b. Jeanine was also guided by noble values, ethics and principles. Fadiman (1997) tells us that, â€Å"Aside from Dee Korda, Jeanine was the only American I talked to who didn’t describe the Lees as closemouthed and dim; not coincidentally, she was also the only American I ever heard Foua or Nao Kao refer to by name† (pp. 112-113). Jeanine recognized the value of the Lee’s religion and ethnicity and respected them. She had empathy for the Lees because she too had an illness-chronic asthma-and respected the Hmong culture for their familial relationships, as she had a strained relationship with her parents because she was gay. From what Fadiman has written about Jeanine, it seems to me that she took to heart and put into practice the NASW Code of Ethics. She respected the inherent dignity and worth of the Lee family; chall enged the social injustice surrounding the cultural clash between the Lee family and the doctors; and recognized the importance of having a trusting and open relationship with the Lees, which eventually won her over to the Lee family. These are just a few ways that Jeanine exemplified her noble values, ethics and principles. 10. I think one of the most important things to remember when working with the Hmong is that being a Hmong is life to them. Fadiman (1997) tells us that â€Å"The Hmong came to the United States for the same reason they had left China in the nineteenth century: because they were trying to resist assimilation† (p. 183). Their ethnicity was their life, so it is important to remember that what may seem as strange traditions, methods of healing and spirituality to us is the normal way of life to the Hmong. Trying to force them to adapt and integrate into our society only makes them like us, and therefore trust us, even less. Believing ourselves to be el ite would be a mistake, one that would certainly cause the Hmong people to instantly distrust us and our intentions. I believe that if I were assessing the Lees, they would instinctively distrust me because I am an American, an outsider to their culture. I would hope that I would be culturally sensitive and empathetic enough that I would show them I could be trusted as their social worker. I would ask about their family, their way of life in Laos, why they came to America. I would ask what injustices they felt had been done to them and ask how they think I could help change these injustices. I would acknowledge their positive characteristics, such as their work ethic, their close relationships within their extended family, and their deep love for their children. I believe that it would be difficult for them to open up about any of their own faults or flaws. The Hmong seems like very proud people and wouldn’t easily admit to any wrongdoings, if what they were doing was cult urally correct. I think I would have the toughest time asking them about any injustice or mistreatment they felt. I think I would be almost afraid to hear the answer, the long list of pain Americans have caused them because mostly, I think they would be correct. I think working with the Lees would be eye opening but very difficult. I’ve always had a more difficult time interacting with people from different cultures, which is why I try to push myself to do things that have me stepping out of my comfort zone (ie, my trip to Africa). I think I would feel ashamed that they had been treated the way that they were, angry at the mistreatment to them and their family. I was very wary as I began to read this book. As I stated earlier, I’ve always had a more difficult time interacting with cultures and religions that are different from my own. This book helped me see that different isn’t always bad. I know that’s such a simple thing to come away with, but to me it is a profound concept. Tolerance and respect are the keys in interacting with people from a different culture, such as the Hmong. As I read through these pages, I experienced a lot of emotions that I wasn’t expecting to have, such as anger, frustration and sadness. This story was beautifully told, and I really appreciated the way Fadiman jumped back and forth from the Lee’s story to Hmong history and culture. It helped me understand and see things a lot more clearly as I went on with the book. Anne Fadiman really made me fall in love with the Lee family, despite so many of their obvious flaws. When I read about the love and care they gave Lia, despite her being in a vegetative state, it really forced me to think of what I would do if I were in that situation. They never stopped giving Lia unconditional support and love, regardless of whether or not she could respond to it. The Lees, Neil and Peggy and Jeanine all showed me that there are people that care a bout others more than themselves. Reading about Jeanine’s advocacy for the Lee family was touching. Finding out that she was practically adopted into this family was heartwarming. This gave me such hope for humanity. It is so easy for me to ignore the beauty and goodness in the world and only see the ugly things such as hatred, racism, prejudice and death. It is easy to lose sight of the fact that as social workers it is not about us and what we think is best for our client. It is about empowering the client in a way that helps them reach their full potential. We are there to assist them in recognizing what is best for them, settin goals for themselves and then helping them to attain those goals. We are to do this regardless of our client’s religion, race or beliefs. Our clients are going to come in all shapes and sizes, races and religions, and we are called to appreciate and encourage their diversity. This book helped me to understand these principles. Don’t waste time! Our writers will create an original "The Spirit Catches You and You Fall Down" essay for you Create order