Essay on Morgan Spurlocks Super Size Me - 1415 Words

Morgan Spurlocks Super Size Me After watching Morgan Spurlocks Super Size Me it became even clearer to me that there is an obesity crisis in this country. While this was not news to me; I was surprised by Dr. Satcher, the former U.S. Surgeon General, stating that left unabated obesity will surpass smoking as the number one preventable cause of death in this country. Morgan Spurlock focused his attention on McDonalds in his documentary, but I think to simply blame the fast food companies grossly simplifies the issue. The obesity crises in this country is a lifestyle issue, big food corporations may be partially to blame, but lifestyle is something that is culturally decided not solely foisted upon us by the corporate world. The†¦show more content†¦Like with a drug, Morgan seemed to enjoy the immediate experience, but had to deal with significant repercussions afterward. Recently, I went to Sonic and had myself a big ?ol tasty burger and a Cookie Dough dessert. At first, I was really enjoying my burger but about two thirds of the way through it; I was beginning to feel the consequences. As for that dessert, I had about five bites and then I needed to throw it out to stop me from eating it. As a culture, we need to look at these foods they way we look at alcohol. Something that is to be enjoyed in moderation, but if it used in excess, it is very dangerous. I think the smoking analogy is flawed however, because smoking is not something to be used even in moderation. I personally think a significant impact on the obesity problem is not caused solely by fast food but by processed food in general. Morgan tells of remembering his mother cooking fresh food every day when he was growing up. I don?t think any of us can say that about our households today. Our country consumes mass quantities of processed foods. According to McDonalds? legal documents it is ?a matter of common knowledge that any processing that its foods undergo serve to make them more harmful than unprocessed foods.? To me there is a direct inverse relationship between the amount a food is processed and how healthy it is. It is not just the fast food companiesShow MoreRelatedFast Food Is Synonymous With Bad Health Essay1688 Words   |  7 Pagesversus when it was not. This find reflects the trend for increased cheese consumption (Paeratakul 1334). The documentary Super Size Me explores what happens to the body when fast food is eaten constantly. The documentary explores the fast food lifestyles effects on the body and mind, and also explores the influence that the fast food industry has over its consumers. Morgan Spurlock, the director and participant, ate McDonald’s every day for every meal, for 30 days. In the end, he had gained 18 poundsRead More Analysis of Super Size Me Essay examples742 Words   |  3 PagesAnalysis of Super Size Me   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Morgan Spurlock decided to make this documentary to investigate the fast food companies, and the effects of certain fast food chains products, particularly McDonalds, on the health of society. This Documentary explores the United States growing epidemic of obesity and diabetes as well. Morgan decides to eat nothing but McDonalds food for thirty days. He must eat one of everything on the menu at least once, and when asked to super size his meal he must do soRead MoreAnalysis of Super Size Me760 Words   |  4 PagesAnalysis of Super Size Me Morgan Spurlock decided to make this documentary to investigate the fast food companies, and the effects of certain fast food chains products, particularly McDonalds, on the health of society. This Documentary explores the United States growing epidemic of obesity and diabetes as well. Morgan decides to eat nothing but McDonald s food for thirty days. He must eat one of everything on the menu at least once, and when asked to super size his meal he must do so. AnotherRead MoreMovie Analysis : Film And Film Genre Essay1182 Words   |  5 Pagesexample of a documentary is Super Size Me. This film came out in 2004 and was directed by Morgan Spurlock. The film is about a man who eats only McDonalds for 30 days straight. The main theme of Super Size Me is whether eating fast food responsibly is a personal responsibility, corporate responsibility, or both. Like most documentaries, this film tries to inform the audience. In this case, Spurlock is trying to inform how bad McDonalds is fo r a person’s health. Spurlock shows this by documenting howRead MoreFood Education : The Dangers Of Fast Food1557 Words   |  7 PagesMcDonald, with its single location in San Bernardino California, Mcdonald s has been luring the working class into their restaurants by offering hot and ready meals for a reasonable price. Now almost eight decades later, with over 36.000 locations in 120 countries. Mcdonald s restaurants are everywhere Airports, Walmarts, gas stations, shopping malls, train stations, amusement parks, even hospitals.   How is it that Mcdonald s are everywhere? As modern lifestyle continues to evolve, the working classRead MoreThe Fast Food Industry Essays1646 Words   |  7 Pagestells a rather different story which forced the company into making a change in their coffee stirring utensils. It was the mid 1970s and coke was king (not the soda.) Just about everyone who was into drugs at the time was doing cocaine, people would do coke at home and even in bath rooms at McDonalds; (it was there where coke-fiends saw an opportunity.) In the late 70s the coke-fiends decided to adopt the seemingly innocent McDonalds utensil and use it for a dark and twisted cause for which it wasRead MoreFast Food America1498 Words   |  6 Pagesbecome a widespread epidemic. According to Joseph Mercola M.D., on a personal website states obesity is, A chronic condition that develops as a result of an interaction between a person s genetic makeup and their environment. Here Dr. Mercola expresses how obesity is directly related to an individual s environment. Today it is not uncommon to find major fast food chains with in a short distance from residential areas. With so many choices for fast food, Americans turn to the fast food as anRead MoreSupersize Me, By Morgan Spurlock954 Words   |  4 Pages In the movie Supersize Me,† by Morgan Spurlock whom was doing a dangerous experience for a month by just eating McDonald s food and nothing else also show how they provide poor nutrition for their own profit and walk about 5,000 steps per day before he started he met five people gastroenterologist, cardiologists, general practitioner, registration dietitian and exercise physiologist to make sure everything is going good for a month by having a regular check up. Doctors told him the only changesRead MoreFast Food: National or Local1486 Words   |  6 Pagesrestaurants. In the documentary film Supersize Me Morgan Spurlock eats every meal at a McDonalds for a month. He eats what an average person would eat and gets almost no physical activity – only walking as many steps as an average person. Spurlock performed this experiment under close supervision of doctors and registered dietitians. He suffered several repercussions to his health as a result of this experiment. Spurlock gained 24.5 pounds, his cholesterol went up 65 points, andRead MoreEat, Pray, Love By Elizabeth Gilbert1140 Words   |  5 PagesBooks and Documentaries Diet and nutrition is prominent in playing a vital role in supporting health. Throughout the year, my research has lead me to gain insight as to how our diet can impact our bodies, whether it’s in a positive or negative way and how to maintain proper nutrition. Michael Pollan’s book In Defense of Food: A Eater’s Manifesto, informed me that we should focus on the foods we are putting in our bodies such as vitamins, fibers, saturated fats, etc. The food, as the author claims,

The Necessity of Legalizing Wolf Hunting in Wisconsin Essay

Over the past several years, the gray wolf, native to the Wisconsin area, has been listed federally as an endangered species due to the graphic and horrific treatment they had received during the industrialization periods of America, when they were frowned upon and hated because they are predatory creatures and did, on occasion, attack livestock and pets. Because the government was encouraging the hunting, including bounties for the animals, the wolves were hunted to near extinction. However, now Wisconsin faces a new problem. With the reintroduction of the wolves to the state, and their continued endangered status federally, the population has increased well beyond expectations, reaching what could be considered a problematic state. A†¦show more content†¦Also, the government wanted to step in and help the economy, so bounties were set in order to encourage the hunting of the creatures. Communities began to see the bounty hunters as heroes, and these men felt as such. The attitude towards wolves spiraled out of control, causing hunts based on vengeance and hatred, and inhumane practices of poisoning, trapping, and torturing began. Even a former governor of Alaska, Jay Hammond, felt that flying in a plane and shooting down hundreds of wolves was necessary to protect the citizens of the state. Wolf furs were coveted, the animals were loathed, and the image of the wolf as a cowardly murderer stuck based on old-fashioned beliefs and legend-based fears. Nothing was done to stop the practices, and the hunts continued to be encouraged, until there were basically no wolves left to hunt (Lopez 139-145). It was nearly too late once the problem was noticed, but the government finally stepped in to address the problem. The wolves were going extinct, and it became clear that the animals were an important part of the ecosystem. The timber (gray) wolf was placed on the endangered species list, and severe consequences were put into action for anyone who h unted the animals illegally. The Wisconsin DNR began a very carefully regulated action plan to reintroduce the wolf to the state, which included radio collars and careful tracking of the animals in order to monitor their progress, as well as make sure they stay in

The Blue Sword CHAPTER TWELVE Free Essays

string(57) " on her either side, and the three of them ate together\." The third morning dawned as bright and valiant as the two before; and still slightly bemused but cheerful, Corlath’s entourage made itself ready to follow its leader back down the mountain. Harry contrived to be the very last of the file, and she looked around her as the penultimate horse and rider left the clearing before the hall and disappeared down the close-grown trail. She had been standing where she was standing now when Corlath had stepped into the clearing before the hall, Fireheart at his heels, to bid farewell to the man he had come to see. We will write a custom essay sample on The Blue Sword CHAPTER TWELVE or any similar topic only for you Order Now They spoke a few words, too low for her to hear as she skulked in the background, as well as anyone on a tall bright chestnut horse with a hunting-cat at its feet could skulk; and then she saw Corlath hold out one hand, palm down and fingers spread, toward Luthe. They held each other’s eyes for a long moment, and then Luthe reached out two fingers to touch the back of Corlath’s hand. Corlath turned away and mounted, and the Riders began following him into the mouth of the trail. Narknon was yawning hugely, leaning against one of Sungold’s forelegs. She had been grumbling to herself all morning, although she seemed to know they were leaving, since she had at last deigned to climb out of bed and follow Harry as Harry took her saddle and gear and went to fetch Sungold. Harry thought with surprise that in just two days she had grown fond of her surroundings and was sorry to leave. This place felt like home; not her home perhaps, but someone’s home, accustomed to shelter and keep and befriend its master. Its emptiness did not have the hollow ring of Corlath’s castle, for all that the proud City castle was more richly furnished. She told herself straitly that her affection for this place could too easily be only that she dreaded what the path away from this haven was leading her toward. She found Luthe standing beside her, with a hand gently laid on Sungold’s crest – a familiarity Sungold rarely permitted any stranger. â€Å"Harry,† he said, and she blinked; no one had called her by her old nickname since that last day at the Residency, and it gave her a disconcerting flash of homesickness, for the Hillfolk could not say it as a Homelander would: Mathin called her Hari. â€Å"I believe all will go well with you: or at least that you will choose to stay on the best path of those you are offered, and that’s the most any mortal can hope for. But I don’t see so beautifully that I have no doubts, for you or anyone; and I am afraid for you. The darkness coming to Damar will not temper itself for a stranger. If you should need a place to come to, you may always come here. You will find it quite easily; just ride into these mountains – any Damarian mountains will do, although the nearer here the better – and say my name occasionally. I will hear you, and some guide will make itself known to you.† There was a sparkle of humor in his hooded blue eyes, but she underst ood that she might take his words seriously nonetheless. â€Å"Thank you,† she said, and Sungold walked forward, into the trees. Narknon, with a last stretch and tail-lash, bounded off before. Harry did not look back, but her peripheral vision told her how the sunlight dropped back, and the trees closed in behind her, and Luthe’s clearing was only a spot of gold, a long distance away. The road down was much easier than the road up had been, for all the uncertainty of stepping downward and downward, Sungold’s hocks collected under him, his hoofs delicately feeling the safety of the footing; but some cloud of foretelling, or chance, had been left behind them in the pleasant vagueness of the three days in Luthe’s hall. Whatever doom lay before them now, it was a definite doom of definite shape, and the swifter they rode, the more swiftly they might meet it and have done with it, for whatever result. They camped at the edge of the foothills that night, and the army re-materialized around them; and everyone looked easier, and more relaxed, even obscurely comforted, by their few days’ break, loitering in the forested feet of the mountains, listening to the birds, and catching hares and antelope for the cooking-pots. It was not all idleness, however, for Corlath’s army on that morning after leaving Luthe had swelled by a few hundreds more. Terim rode up beside her as they set out, and stayed near her all day; they rode at the front, with Corlath and the Riders, and Murfoth, and the few other chieftains who led more than fifty riders to Corlath’s standard. Harry saw Senay once, not many horse-lengths distant – for the riding was close – and she caught her eye and began a smile; but suddenly uncertain how the winner of the laprun trials was expected to behave to one of those defeated, and one who besides wore a sash with one’s own slash mark in it, dropped her eyes before the other had a chance to respond. In the evening, however, when Harry dismounted, she found herself staring at a bay flank she did not recognize for a moment; its rider dismounted also, and was found to be Senay. This time the two young women looked at each other directly, and both smiled. So several more days passed, and Corlath’s little force made a glorious and frightening thunder when it galloped; and even as Harry thought that her Outlanders did not guess there were so many in all the Hills, she thought too of what each of the Hillfolk knew: of the Northerners there were many more. Harry rode now with Terim and Senay on her either side, and the three of them ate together. You read "The Blue Sword CHAPTER TWELVE" in category "Essay examples" Harry noticed that while the Riders as a group stayed in the same area, all seemed to have friends or blood kin from the army outside who came closer to stand by them, as Terim and Senay, for whatever reason, had chosen to stand by her. Corlath’s small force would fight shoulder to shoulder and friend to friend; it was a little comforting. Mathin found her once, head against Sungold’s neck and brush hanging limply in one hand. â€Å"Hari – † he said, and she started and snapped upright, and began to brush Sungold’s shoulder. â€Å"Hari,† he said again, â€Å"it is only your old teacher, and there is no shame to your thoughts. We all have them; but it is the worst for you, and for all those riding with us fresh from the trials, but worst of all for you as laprun-minta and bearer of the Blue Sword. Do not be too hard on yourself.† Harry said, â€Å"I am not too hard on myself.† Mathin smiled grimly. â€Å"I don’t believe you. Even young Terim, who worships the ground you walk on – † Harry snorted – â€Å"has spent the past three years riding the borders, under his father’s wise and watchful eye, that he might strike his first angry blow and draw his first blood with his newly earned sword before the great battle of the Bledfi Gap. You do not have three years. It is not your fault.† â€Å"It does not matter that it is not my fault, does it?† Harry tried to smile, but Mathin’s dark face was too worried, and she gave it up. â€Å"Thank you, my old teacher; I will try to remember what you say.† Mathin said softly, â€Å"You are still the keeper of my honor, Harimad-sol, and I have faith in you, whatever happens. If you forget all else, do not forget that.† â€Å"I will not,† Harry said. They had left the slight shelter of the mountains now, and rode northwest across the plain to come to the great gap in the northern range as soon as they might, where the Northern invaders would pour through. They rode quickly but without driving, for the horses and their riders needed to have the strength to engage the other army; and Corlath further hoped to arrive enough in advance of their enemy that he might choose the ground where they would meet. They had ridden over little true desert; soon after they left the foothills’ border the scrub fringe of desert began turning green, and they passed the occasional carefully irrigated small holding, now silent and empty. In three days’ time they would arrive at the Gate of the North, the Bledfi Gap, and Corlath called a meeting again of his Riders and the chieftains. Terim and Senay waited outside the zotar by a little fire, guarding Harry’s saddle and baggage, and Harry went to hear what her king would have to say; and she remembered Luthe’s words to her: â€Å"You could do worse than to believe in him.† They counted themselves. There were some foot soldiers who would meet them at the end of their ride, but only a few; there were few of the Hills who did not feel better, more useful, more real, on horseback. Barring them, they were full strength. Few of the Hillfolk came from any farther west, for the taint of the Outlanders was oppressive to them. Harry stared at her hands, burned a cinnamon-brown as dark as any Hillman’s. Aerin’s hair was red, she thought, and pushed back her hood; and I am a Rider. The muster came to a little shy of two thousand; and there was silence as everyone considered the Hills black with Northerners, and the width of the mountain pass. Corlath, without making any face-saving remarks about its not being as bad as it looked – For Hillfolk, thought Harry, don’t seem to like that sort of thing: what would poor Sir Charles do here? – began to describe their options; but Harry, to her horror, found her mind wandering. She yanked it back, pointed it at Corlath, and it promptly ducked out again. Is this the first symptom of failure of nerve? she thought, feeling cold and clammy in spite of the dry heat. Various of the new men had questions or comments; and then the meeting broke up; and while Riders’ councils always ended quietly, there was a subdued feeling to the air in the king’s tent that was not pleasant. Only a few people were left when Harry stood up and faced Corlath and said, tiredly, as if she couldn’t help herself: â€Å"Why do you persist in ignoring the northwest pass? I cannot believe the Northerners may not give us an unwelcome surprise by its use.† â€Å"I ignore it because it does not require my attention,† said Corlath, and while his voice was a low rumble, there was as yet no lash of anger in it. â€Å"But – â€Å" â€Å"You know nothing of it.† The flatness of his tone goaded her and she said: â€Å"The Outlanders make maps none so ill, and I have seen the maps of that area – and I can read maps too! And they tell me that a force, not so small as to be ignored, could slip down the northwest pass very easily, and follow the mountains east, and catch us on the plain from behind, and then your earthworks will be mounts to fall on when we are set on from our backs!† â€Å"Enough!† roared Corlath. â€Å"You I will place in a hollow in the side of the hill, so you may see from all directions, and I advise you to look overhead as well, for eagles that might be carrying rocks!† Harry turned and ran out. She noticed, without registering it, that Innath and Faran and Mathin stood listening; and she did not see the troubled looks they sent after her. The night air was cool with the sudden coolness of the desert when darkness falls, and she took a few deep breaths. Then she went to her fire, and sat down, and tried to make her face calm; and if her mind had been calm, she might have thought it strange that Senay and Terim asked her no questions; but she was relieved at their silence and wrestled as best she could with her own demons. Mathin came and sat near her also, and he too was silent, and she did not notice how he looked at her. The fires burned down, and everyone lay down to sleep. Harry chose not to sleep in the zotar that night; and Mathin stayed by her little fire as well, though he still said nothing. Harry turned on her back and stared at the sky. She let the stars swing above her for a time, and then she stood up quietly, and picked up her bedding and her saddlebag, and made her way to the horses; and she remembered what Mathin had taught her of stealth. Narknon made none of her usual protest at being disturbed, and meekly followed her. Sungold rubbed his head against her but made no sound, for war-horses are trained to silence; and she mounted him and jogged away slowly. She had a terrible headache; it had been building all evening, and now it seemed to stand out around her like a cloud. Perhaps it was a cloud indeed, for no one challenged her as she set Sungold’s head west. They covered many miles before morning, for Sungold was of the best of the Hill horses, and the speed the army traveled was to him slow. Harry remembered a little spur of hills running down to the central plain that she should meet before morning broke too clearly for watching eyes to see a lone chestnut horse with a Hillman on his back working his way quickly west. She hoped, because the hills had looked overgrown on the Outlander map, and because Dedham himself had ridden so far and drawn the chart himself, that she would be able to lose herself in them; and she hoped that the stream that flowed through them would be easy to find. She was tired by the time she felt the sun on her back, and she knew Sungold was weary too, although his stride was as long and elastic as it had been hours ago. Narknon loped along beside them, keeping pace. But the hills were at hand: rough outcroppings of grey and rust-red rock, with little but lichen to meet the traveler’s first look; but as Sungold picked his way around a tall grey standing stone, suddenly grass appeared before them, and Sungold’s feet struck good dark earth, and then they heard the stream. Narknon reached it first; she had none of most cats’ aversion to water, and leaped in, sending water in all directions, and splashing Harry playfully when she followed. â€Å"I should not have let you come with me,† Harry said to her; â€Å"but I don’t suppose there’s any way I could have prevented you. Thank the gods.† Sungold was laying his ears back in mock anger and striking with his forefeet as Narknon splashed him too. â €Å"And besides, I daresay Sungold would miss you, and I had to bring him.† It was after they had all soggily climbed out of the water again that she heard the hoofbeats; and she whirled around to face them. The faces of her four-footed companions remained undisturbed, and Sungold turned his head mildly to look over his shoulder at whoever approached, but this was no comfort, for they did not understand the awfulness of what she had done, or that the friends who had followed her were friends no longer. It was Senay and Terim. Their horses showed the pace they had kept worse than Sungold; but they were well mannered and stood quietly, waiting hopefully for their riders to tell them they might stop and rest, and drink and graze, as their brother was doing already. â€Å"Why did you follow me?† said Harry. â€Å"Did Corlath send you? I – I won’t come back. If you take Sungold away from me, I’ll go on foot.† Terim laughed. It wasn’t a very good laugh, but there was some weary humor in it nonetheless. â€Å"I don’t think anyone could take Sungold away from you, unless perhaps by cutting him in pieces; and we are not sent by anyone. We followed you †¦ â€Å" â€Å"We followed you because we chose to follow you,† said Senay. â€Å"And Mathin sat up and watched us go, and said nothing; and you will not send us back, for we shall follow you anyway, like Narknon.† Senay dismounted deliberately, and sent her grateful horse to the water; and Terim followed her. Harry sat down where she stood. â€Å"Do you realize what I’ve done? What you’ve done by following me?† â€Å"More or less,† said Terim. â€Å"But my father has other sons; he can afford to disinherit one or two.† Senay was pouring water over her head. â€Å"There are a few who will come to me; we will pass near my village, and I will tell them, and they will follow. There are not many left in the western end of the Horfels; but most of those there are owe allegiance to my father. The best of them, I fear, rode to join Corlath after I left for the trials; but there are some – like my father himself – who chose not to desert the land they’ve loved for generations.† â€Å"That will not help you when he disowns you, like Terim’s father,† said Harry. Senay shook her wet hair back and smiled. â€Å"My father has too few children to lose one; and I am the only child of his first wife, and he raised me to make up my own mind. The way he did this was by yielding to me when I asked, even when I was foolish. I lived through it; and I know my own mind; and he will do what I ask him.† Harry shook her head. â€Å"Do you know where †¦ we’re †¦ going?† â€Å"Of course,† said Terim, surprised. â€Å"Besides, Mathin told us, days ago.† Harry was beyond arguing; and, she realized in the back of her mind, she didn’t want to argue. She was too warmed and heartened by having two more friends with her in her self-chosen exile; and unlike Sungold and Narknon she could not feel she had compelled this man and woman. â€Å"And we brought provisions,† Terim said matter-of-factly. â€Å"You shouldn’t go on desperate missions without food.† â€Å"Narknon would take care of me, I think,† Harry said, trying to smile. â€Å"Even Narknon can’t bake bread,† said Terim, unrolling a twist of cloth that held several loaves of the round pot-baked bread the army ate in vast quantities. They unsaddled their horses in companionable silence, and rubbed the sweat marks with grass, and the horses waded into the stream again and splashed their bellies, and then found sandy patches on the shore to roll in, scratching their backs and withers and grunting happily. Horses and riders together rested in the shade of some thin low-branching trees, till the sun was low on the western horizon; and then the riders brushed their horses till they gleamed in the twilight. And they saddled and rode out with the sunset blinding their eyes, with a long lean cat-shadow following behind. Mathin could not sleep after he had silently wished Senay and Terim speed and luck. He lay down again, and his thoughts roved back over the last weeks, and his memories were so vivid that dawn was breaking and other bodies were stirring before he thought to rise himself. Innath joined him at the fire that Senay and Terim and Harry had sat around the night before; and neither of them was surprised when they saw Corlath leave the zotar and come directly to them. They remained seated, and gazed up at him as he towered over them; but when he looked down they found they could not meet his eyes, or did not want to recognize the expression in them, and they stared into the fire again. He turned away, took a few steps, and paused; and bent, and picked something up. It was a long maroon sash, huddled in a curve in the ground, so that it looked like a shadow itself. He held it over his hand, and it hung limp like a dead animal; and the small morning breeze seemed unable to stir it. How to cite The Blue Sword CHAPTER TWELVE, Essay examples