My Life in France Post 2

Throughout the book, My Life in France, Julia Child continually talks about her original incompetence in the kitchen. Coming from a typical California family, Child's parents rarely cooked, and as a result she never learned. As she tells the reader, "but I was never encouraged to cook and just didn't see the point in it" (4). It is hard to believe that the woman known for her cooking ability never touched a stove before she was married. After her marriage, it was still a long time before she was inspired to learn how to cook, and cook well. She was inspired to take up cooking when she and her husband moved to France. There, she was amazed by the wide assortment of extremely delicious food and encouraged to try her own skill. As Child recalls "Surrounded by gorgeous food, wonderful restaurants, and a kitchen at home -- and an appreciative audience in my husband -- I began to cook more and more" (42). Her astonishment by how good well prepared food could taste gave her new motivation to learn to cook, and create masterpieces of her own. Her desire and willingness to try new things helped show her a whole new world, and shaped the rest of her life.

I chose to write about this aspect of her life as a contrast to All The Pretty Horse. Throughout the entire book, John Grady is trying to find the old life that he had had to give up because of his mother. Though he matures a great deal, it seems that he can never accept a new way of life than the one he has given up. Child seems to be the opposite of that. After her marriage and her life in France, she is eager to embrace a new life style that had before seemed stupid and pointless. After reading both books it seems tome that Child had a much more fulfilling life than John Grady in part because of her willingness to try new things and change. From these books, it seems that flexibility will bring more happiness than stubbornness.

My Life in France Post 1

I decided to read the book My Life in France by Julia Child. This book is an autobiography about the amazing chef Julia Child, the woman who revolutionized home cooking by creating the first cooking show. Even though this book is mostly centered on her time in France, when her husband was working at the US embassy, there is also quite a bit on her childhood and the road to her love of cooking. She and her husband were night and day. She was raised in California and hardy ever traveled, while her husband was well traveled and well cultured. It was a huge decision whether they should get married or not. Their final decision to get married was not widely accepted throughout her family. Her husband was an artist and a democrat, and her conservative father did not agree with him on anything. Though the decision seemed to be a bad one, in the end it worked out for the better.

Another major decision she had to make was whether she should go to France or not with her husband. She had never been to Europe before and had heard countless bad comments about it and France in particular. She also did not speech a word of French. The only person she would know and would be able to talk to would be her husband. She decided that she would go to France, even if it did seem crazy. It was a good thing that she did, because it was there that she acquired her love of cooking and her desire to share her knowledge with women in the United States. Those are two major decisions that Julia Child had to make that would determine the course of her life.

Halloween Origin

Have you ever wondered where the idea for Halloween came from? I mean come on, who would ever say "Ok kids, go and knock on stranger's doors and ask them for food"? This holiday was started by the Celts more than 2,000 years ago. They celebrated the beginning of the New Year on November 1, called Samhain (SAH-win). They believed that the night before, spirits, demons, and fairies walked the earth. People would sacrifices animals over bonfires and dress in animal skins and other costumes to confuse these spirits. Sometimes they impersonated their dead family members. These traditions evolved into an excuse to break down social order for a day. Men dressed as women, women as men, children as their parents, etc. It is also believed that people who dressed up as spirits would go and perform silly acts for people for food. This is probably how trick-or-treating began. When Samhain met Christianity, Halloween was born. November 1 is All Saints Day, or Hallows Day. The night before, Hallow Eve, soon became known as Halloween. For more information about how Halloween began, and how MN had a major role in modern day Halloween, visit http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2008/10/081027-halloween-facts-costumes-history_2.html

EE10 Picture

"How to Catch Birds in their Element"

There is nothing more amazing than a well taken picture of a eagle snatching a fish from a lake or a heron taking flight. But how do people do it? How can you get those amazing shots? The article I found give tips on how to capture those shots without breaking the bank with travel expenses. Most great bird pictures are taken near the photographer home. That is because the best way to start photographing birds is to know and understand the birds. The article recommends researching spiecies of birds in your area, including migration habits, to know when the best time to catch your bird is. But nothing beats getting out with binoculars and a field guide and watching the birds for yourself. Birds are creatures of habit, and once you start to pick up on these habits, you can predict what they will do in the future and start to plan your shots. This article also talks about having the right lighting. If you want your bird to look turely alive, you must have some light reflected in the bird's eye. That means having the sun behind you at a low angle, and the bird in front of you while taking your picture. These are just a few of the tips in this article. For more tips go to http://www.popphoto.com/howto/5464/how-to-catch-birds-in-their-element.html

Ettlinger, Richard. "How to Catch Birds in their Element" PopPhoto.com. Sept.2008. <http://www.popphoto.com/howto/5464/how-to-catch-birds-in-their-element.html>

Heavy Metal Worms

A major factory just sold a bunch of land to be used for wildlife or farming. Great right? There is only one problem. Nothing will grow in the polluted soil. They heavy metals, a toxic reminder of the factory that one stood here, kill plants, leaving a waste land that could remain unuseable for years. But now there is a solution. Worms! No, I don't mean the little earthworms that live in your garden. This species of worms, just discovered in England, have a special digestive system, so they can eat the metal rich dirt without dying. What is even better is that they leave behind soil that can easily be used by plants. The worms digestive system coats the metal with portein, so it doesn't hurt the worm. The metal is still toxic to humans, so no food crops can be grown, but other crops such as plants for bio fuels grow very well. This kind of worm still needs a name and quite a few studies to back it up, but scientist hope to one day breed these little guys and clean up polluted areas with them. And who knows, maybe the plants that grow their could be used to power the factory it recieved land from.

Owen, James. Heavy Metal-Eating "Superworms" Unearthed in U.K. National Geographic. 7 Oct 2008. http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2008/10/081007-super-worms.html

Homer: Feminist or Sexist

Though Homer’s Goddesses were very strong females, I believe that Homer had a more sexist view of women than his contemporaries. It is easy to look at Homer’s portrayal of Athena and Hera and say that he was an early feminist. But the key is to look at other Greek mythology written by an assortment of writer to truly see how women were viewed. Though many of the myths passed down to us today are centered around men, there are quite a few with strong females. Atalanta was a famous huntress. It was said that her skills surpassed all of her male counterparts. She was always looking for adventure. For that very reason many men wanted to marry her. She could have settled down and had a nice easy life and raise a family like a good wife, but she did not. She did everything in her power to remain single, loving the freedom she had without a man. It took nothing short of the goddess of love to get her to marry, and even then she could not be persuaded to love the man she married. Another strong woman was Daphne. Her father, the river god Peneus, had showed her handsome men who had all tried to woo her. She asked her father to not make her marry. Not even Apollo could change her mind. When he saw her and began to chase after her, she was willing to be transformed into a tree in order to keep her freedom from men. Those are just two of the many strong women in mythology.

Homer’s (human) women were very different. In the Iliad, the women of Troy are barely considered human. They are treated as possessions, something to be taken from a ransacked town. Achilles even gives away a woman for a grand prize during funeral games for Patroclus. There is never any mention of them other than something to be fought over. In The Odyssey there is also the double standard. Both Penelope and Odysseus are considered to be faithful to each other, but after a closer look you see that Odysseus was with many other women for years and years, while Penelope has been sobbing every night for him, having to put up with suitors that she could easily get rid of by saying she would marry one. Homer’s women were very different from other myths of the time. These examples show that even though Homer’s goddesses were very strong females, when it came to the human race he is just another sexist.