Field Trip-Virtual Look Into The Scarecrow

Before conducting field work with the game, "The Scarecrow", I wasn't sure what to expect. I'm completely obsessed with Chipotle so I figured the game would be a fun way to conduct some research. We know Chipotle as taking a different approach to fast food by growing their own food, as well as ethically treating their meats. This is one of the great things about Chipotle. They also make delicious food that always tastes fresh. I decided to download the game on my phone and see what I could find.

Once fully downloaded onto my phone, I quickly began my session. The colors in this game, I noticed, were very crisp and pretty. Color definitely was in this game to specifically set the mood. For example, the factory that you are running through is dark, and uses colors like blues, and silver to help set the somber tone. There are evil scarecrows in the game that have black feathers, with glowing red eyes. You can tell that these characters are not who you want to mess with. Inside the factory, there are many obstacles that you, the scarecrow, have to go through in order to get out of the factory and safely transport the food.

Another area in the game is going through downtown. You have to help save the caged livestock in order for them to be returned to the farm. They can then roam free to their hearts content when they are on their farm. While saving the animals, you have to fly through several obstacles, like avoiding all the advertising of "Crow Foods". The colors in this scene paint a picture of false happiness. You see all the brightly colored advertisements, enticing passerby's interest as they fly by. Don't be fooled by this propaganda, however. Millions of animals are put in confined spaces, and then get sick because of this. Chipotle's site explains, "Today‘s industrial agriculture practices call for keeping many animals in tiny spaces and feeding them antibiotics to ward off diseases that arise from their inhumane conditions. But it doesn‘t have to be this way. Healthy and happy animals thrive when given room to express their natural tendencies" (Chipotle).

Animals need to be able to go and come as they please. They were not meant to be caged, and when you put them in cramped places, they get sick. When the animals are sick, we pump them with antibiotics, but if you think of it, why would you still want to eat an animal full of all sorts of byproducts? This game has demonstrated to me that there are better ways of getting our food. We need to treat these animals with respect. This goes back to my movie review where I watched about Temple Grandin and her fight for humane animal treatments. In the movie, she explains about cattle and the benefits of humane treatment, "We raise them for us. That means we owe them some respect. Nature is cruel but we don’t have to be. We can easily do it a way where they don’t feel pain and they don’t get scared” (Grandin, 1:30:43).

As I continued my virtual journey, I finally got a chance to make it to the Scarecrow farm. So much brightness in this section of them game! It was very pretty in contrast to the crow factory. As the scarecrow, I ran around the farm, cultivating my new crops. There shot up healthy foods from the soil, like tomatoes, corn, cabbage, carrots and a few more. These crops were spread throughout the farm, as I ran around sowing the fields. I had to make sure to avoid the crows up ahead of me. They flew around and did their best to poison my healthy crops. I did my best to make sure to avoid them to ensure my crops to stay plentiful.

Chipotle believes in buying fresh food from farmers who care about their crops. They claim the benefits of buying from a farmer include, "We believe family farmers are more likely to respect their land by rotating crops, avoiding pesticides, and planting with diversity. Factory farms may be less connected to the land, and therefore more likely to deplete the soil and dump tons of waste in a small area" (Chipotle). Since Chipotle believes in the miracles that local farmers create, they choose to buy from them. This serves to be great practice because it ensures that the food being grown is in the more than capable hands of the people who truly care about the process of food growth. These farmers know what they are doing, and respect the land that they work on. If more people were to turn to these farmers, we would have much better food sources circulating around us.

On the last leg of my journey, I finally made it to the town square with all the local foods. By local foods, I mean processed foods all around me. The scarecrow was the only one to be serving up actual fresh foods, as well as much healthier alternatives to the surrounding places. I was on a mission to get this fresh food to all the hungry people in town. I had to make sure that I served them before they started going to all the unhealthy places around me. I had to run fast in order to keep the towns people happy. It was also challenging because I had to run back to the main stand in order to get more food, and through this, more people would start heading to other nearby places. I failed a couple of times, but enjoyed when I accomplished putting smiles on a person's face. Chipotle supports that, "Food prepared from fresh, wholesome ingredients is generally tastier and healthier than food from heavily processed ingredients" (Chipotle). I have to say that Chipotle's food tastes much better than most places and makes me feel full after just a salad. You can definitely tastes the quality ingredients that goes into their products. It also does not make you feel like you are eating fake meat, or eating gobs of oil-filled foods. The fact that Chipotle uses fresh ingredients is what make's their food a great option to eat.

Playing the Scarecrow has been a great experience for me because it only reaffirms what I have learned in class. The farmers who work hard on their land on are the ones you can most trust when buying your food from. These farmers go out everyday, and put their all into what they are doing. It is not an easy job at all. We have learned that there are numerous factors that must be accounted for like the weather, the soil, the way you treat your land. These are all things that a farmer must do to ensure that they are growing the best crops they can. Their dedication and hard work through hard times shows that these are the people we can trust. One woman I read about in this class was Elinore Pruitt Stewart. She was a homesteader who was not thrown an easy life of farming. She had to work hard in order to amount to any little success. She goes through many problems until she finally sees some progress years later from the time she started. She writes, "Of course I am extra strong, but those who try know that strength and knowledge come with doing. I just love to experiment, to work, and to prove out things, so that ranch life and 'roughing it' just suit me" (Farm, p.133) Elinore proves that farmers do not have it easy, but they do it because they are strong-willed. They do not give up hope because they strive to put their best foot forward and provide great food for us. Chipotle does just this by choosing these strong-willed farmer to provide only the best foods so that it can be served to guests.

Getting to play this game has made me respect Chipotle even more for choosing to use fresh products, and choosing farmers who respect the land. I feel much more inspired that a company is choosing to not go the easy route and use questionable products. Because of their dedication to serving only quality items, you can see why chipotle is one of the best food choices to go to. I know that I will be even more of a loyal customer of Chipotle's because this experience only reaffirms what I have thought about their food and motto. Indeed, Chipotle remains to be one of the best places you can go to for both their great food, and how they portray themselves, ethically.

Work Cited:

• "The Scarecrow." The Scarecrow. Chipotle Mexican Grill, Inc. Web. 29 Apr. 2016. <http://www.scarecrowgame.com/game.html>.

• Temple Grandin. Dir. Mick Jackson. Perf. Claire Danes. Warner Bros., 2010. DVD.

• Kinkead, Funda, McNeill. “Elinore Pruitt Stewart”. Farm-A Multimodal Reader. Book.

Visual Rhetoric of Pop Culture

The Bull

Paulus Potter

1647

Mauritshuis, The Hague, Netherlands

92.7 in x 133 in

Oil on Canvas

This picture depicts a man and his animals all huddled under a tree with each other. The focus is on the man and these animals, but you can see off in the distance that there are other animals as well. The main animals look like they are comforted in the fact that their master is by them, and that they most likely feel a sense of protection from him. There are clouds in the sky and there is darkness upon the main animals and the man. Off in the distance you can see that there is light upon the other animals. This could be to suggest that there may be hard times in the line of work this man has faced, but through these times he will always have his animals who look for comfort in him, and that there is goodness in his future with these animals.

The theme I see in this picture that we have learned about is that life on the farm may seem simple, but there is not much simple about it. There is hard work that these farmers have to go through. They work hard to cultivate their crops, must provide for their families and the population, and have to care for the living things on their farm. These animals depend on their owner to provide for them and in return, they will provide for their owners. I also see that while working on the farm, farmers can have many spiritual experiences. There is darkness in this picture, but there is peace that lies within that. In the light, there is life, literally and figuratively. For a farmer to feel the spirituality around him would mean that there is a bigger picture in the line of work he has. The lives he cares for have so much more meaning than just that they are sacks of meat. He has a connection with these animals who cannot talk back to him, but yet they still trust him and want to be around him. 

This picture shows the hard work that farmers must go through, but because of it, they and the life around them form a connection that makes that hard work pay off. There is spirituality on the farm, and this pictures shows that because of how even though these animals have no words to speak, there is still a connection that forms between man and animal that shows trust.

Work Cited

Potter. Paulus. The Bull. Digital image. Artsor. Web. 10 Apr. 2016. <http://www.artstor.org/content/mauritshuis>

Academic Film Review

Amanda Boyd

Rosa Thornely

ENGL 3630

8 March 2016

Film Review: Temple Grandin

On March 8, 2016 I watched the movie “Temple Grandin”. I was not sure what to expect to see in this movie, except that it had some kind of farming theme to it. As the movie began, it shows Temple in an optical illusion house introducing herself to the audience. I could tell right away that she was autistic. I thought that this was going to be just a movie on autism but it ended up being so much more. It shows a dedicated and bright woman who takes an interest in farm animals and wants to help them from being mistreated. The movie really captured some important takeaways that I have previously learned about farms. A few of the themes I picked up from the movie include how the experience of living on a farm can bring you a sense of self, as well as how good treatment towards livestock is important for us. These themes show how valuable an experience of living on a farm can be, in order to help one grow into a successful being.

When Temple first arrives at her aunt’s farm, she is not sure fully what to think. She takes in her surroundings with an observant eye. She immediately takes a liking to the cows; she even likes to lay down on the ground in their cage with them. She hears the cows getting distressed as one cow is poked and jabbed at by while being directed by the farmers to a curious machine. The cow keeps crying out in panic until it gets inside the machine. Once the bars are snuggly pressed around the cow’s sides, it becomes very calm and happy. This device is called a squeeze machine and Temple finds it quite fascinating. Later that night, Temple’s mother calls to warn the aunt that there will be a point where Temple will snap from getting too overwhelmed by something, so the aunt makes sure to assure that she will deal with Temple when that time comes. While Temple stays with her aunt, she notices what improvements she can make on the land to help make her aunts way of life much more easy. She helps create a gate for her aunt using the information she has observed through her daily findings on the farm. Gone are the days that Temple’s aunt has to get out of her car to open the front gate, and could then pull a rope that activates a mechanism to help move the gate so that there are forty-five seconds to get through in her truck.

As time predicted, one day Temple snaps. When she walks to her room, she notices that there are changes inside that she did not make and this causes her to get very overwhelmed. Her breathing and heart beat excelerate and her aunt notices that this is the moment she has prepared for. Temple cries loudly as she runs out of the house and darts to the squeeze machine that is used to help calm cows down. She orders her aunt to enclose her in it just like the cows. Her aunt is hesitant but does it. Temple is able to find relief with this machine, and because of this, she realizes that this is what she needs to use when she is distressed. If Temple had not gone to her aunt’s farm, she may have not found a way to control herself when she her anxiety gets worked up. 

The farm also offered Temple a place for her to think about her future. She found a love for cows which she would never have found if she hadn't stayed with her aunt. Her farm experience helped Temple to find that she was interested in cattle husbandry and that she should go to college even if it seemed scary to her. Another woman who found herself on a farm was Elinore Pruitt Stewart. Elinore was a Homesteader that went through many struggles on a farm. She lost her husband, had to run the farm on her own, and even had to face crop failures at times. Through this, Elinore still found that farm life was her calling. She says, “I have tried every kind of work this ranch affords, and I can do any of it. Of course I am extra strong, but those who try know that strength and knowledge come with doing. I just love to experiment, to work, and to prove out things, so that ranch life and ‘roughing it’ just suit me” (Farm, p. 133). This shows that if these woman had not gotten the chance to experience farm life, they may have not found their true calling. Temple would not have grown her passion for cows and their care if she had not spent her summers on a farm. Temple also would not have been able to create her squeeze machine which helps with her anxiety if it weren't for her observations of how it helps cows. The experience on a farm proved to be vital for Temple finding her true calling and becoming successful.

Temple’s love for cows grows as the movie progresses. Her high school science teacher sees her love for cows and insists that she go and get her degree in cattle husbandry. He sees her enormous potential to do something great, and because of his support, she decides she wants to go to college. Temple does not adjust to college well at first because school officials do not like that she brings in her squeeze machine to her dorm. She decides to conduct a study on how this machine can help her and others. Her superiors are impressed with her research and decide she can keep it. This bit of good news helps encourage Temple that she can do anything she sets her mind to and can open new doors. She is able to receive her doctorate and decides that she wants to work on a ranch. 

When she gets on the ranch, she is instantly targeted by the other men. They make sexist remarks to her as well as belittle her intelligence. In this time, men did not like women working on the farm and they tell her that even the wives of the workers are not allowed in. This shows how the history of farming never depicts a woman working hard and getting dirty outside, and that women mainly took care of the kids and house duties. This stereotype does not stop Temple from continuing her tour with the other ranchers. As she continues, she sees the terrible conditions of how cows are slaughtered. What sets her off the most is the cattle dip. Cattle dips are used to clean cows of any parasites and ticks that may be on them. Typically, cows are supposed to walk down a slippery incline and jump into a narrow, but deep passage of liquid. The problem is that when the cows jump, they can land wrong and flip over which leads them to drowning. When one drowns in front of Temple, it infuriates her. Seeing a cow drown makes her realize that there must be a better way for cows to enter a cattle dip. 

When she does succeed and creates a much better dip for cattle, the ranch men decide to not follow her instructions on purpose, and it causes three cows to die. This makes Temple livid. She confronts her old science teacher and claims about cattle how, “We raise them for us. That means we owe them some respect. Nature is cruel but we don’t have to be. We can easily do it a way where they don’t feel pain and they don’t get scared” (Grandin,1:30:43). She sheds light on the fact that livestock is important to our way of living, and because of that, we owe them much more than we could imagine. If these animals provide us with food, helped us to plow our crops, and many other resources, they deserve to be treated with the upmost care. Livestock plays an important role throughout history. They were there to help us in the days when we did not have machines to help us. In the book “Farm: A Multimodal Reader”, chapter three talks about how animals were valued greatly. It claims how pastoral and bucolic life show how romanticized rural life could be saying, “The scene is peaceful, serene, contemplative, rustic, simple, and idyllic because of how cowherd/shepherd has direct connection with the natural world that suggests a kind of purity” (Farm, p. 45). This shows how the treatment of cattle has been historically seen as important for keeping our natural world at peace. If it were not for cattle, we would not be able to access what our world has to offer. Temple realizes this and saw that change needed to happen. She was able to create a much more humane way to handle these cows, and saved companies time and money because of it. 

Temple Grandin shows how having the experience of living on a farm is important for helping one grow a sense of self and that the treatment of livestock is important for us to pay attention to. Getting a chance to live on a farm helped Temple to learn new things, think about what she wanted to do in life, and find a way to deal with her challenges of autism in a different way that works for her. Because of that experience, she went on to help improve the treatment of cattle to be much more humane. Farm life really does prove to be beneficial and helpful for those who have the privilege to experience it.

Work Cited:

• Kinkead, Funda, McNeill. “Sharecopper’s contract between Isham G Bailey, Cooper Hughes, and Charles Roberts”. Farm-A Multimodal Reader. Book.
• Temple Grandin. Dir. Mick Jackson. Perf. Claire Danes. Warner Bros., 2010. DVD.

Legislating Agriculture

The farm bill was first created during the Great Depression era because of how farmers were struggling with excess crops, and the low prices being created by this excess. The farm bill was made to help cover farmers to make sure they were able to supply enough food for all. This bill largely helped farmers by making sure that the government would help buy excess grains from farmers just in case there were unforeseen accidents in the future like bad weather. 

Nowadays, the farm bill is now used to help distribute money to food stamps, child nutrition, commodity programs, conservation, crops insurance, and other places. Funds are distributed by a small 6.2% going to crop insurance, while the highest amount 51.9% goes to food stamps. While only a small amount goes to crops insurance, it can be seen that food stamps takes first priority. 

It can be thought that crop insurance would be top priority but this is not the case. To put most of the funds toward this area can be quite risky and not always worth the payoff. The USDA claims that, "This Farm Bill strengthens crop insurance by providing more risk management options for farmers and ranchers and by making crop insurance more affordable for beginning farmers. It continues the growth of the crop insurance program, and provides avenues to expand farm safety net options for organic producers and specialty crop producers" (USDA). This statement refers back to how the government covers farmers from natural disasters that may occur such as extreme weather conditions. They want to help farmers succeed by giving them a affordable insurance for their crops. The USDA explains, “The amount of insurance available to a farmer is based on the farmer's average historical yields. In the past, a year of particularly low yields that occurred due to severe weather beyond the farmer's control would reduce the amount of insurance available to the farmer in future years” (USDA). It can be inferred that although the farm bill does what it can to insure for good crops, it does not want to distribute most of its funds to this area because of natural disasters that can occur. These disasters can not always be predicted, and therefore would be risky for the farm bill to devote all of its funds to.

The Farm Bill is very necessary for our lives. It helps devote a spot where government funds go to in order to help our communities be fed properly, and helps insure the farmers to grow the crops we need. The Farm Bill proves to be beneficial for our way of life. 

Work Cited:

"Farm Bill 2014." Farm Bill 2014. Web. 20 Mar. 2016. <http://www.rma.usda.gov/news/currentissues/farmbill/>. 

Folklore of the Farm

I have talked about my Grandparents growing up on farms and what their daily life was like. They had many chores to perform in order for the farm to run smoothly. Their chores were very routine and they never asked their parents why they had to do them. Being such hard workers at a young age can be hard for me to imagine, but once in a while they did break away from work for fun.

My grandfathers family would all gather around at the end of the day on a weekend night and share a home cooked meal together. They did not live near the city so they had to make their own fun. After dinner, they would clean the dishes and kitchen before they could go on to their next activity. They would gather in the living room and would start a fire, settling in for the night full of fun festivities. My grandpa's dad would start a song, and then everyone would join in. My grandfather loved the songs they sung, most of them being about gospel. A little later they would eat a sugary confection made by his mother which was always the best part. Once it was late into the night, they would go to bed and dream about when the next weekend night would come along.

My grandmother also lived on a farm that was not near a city. Her favorite pastime was making little paper dolls. This reminds me of "Little House On the Prairie" every time I hear about it. My grandma's family did not have much money so they had to make their own dolls. There were always bit of fabric around from quilts that were made by her mom. She would use these to create colorful dresses. Next, she would use tall yellow grass for hair and would then color on a face. She would have hours of fun with her dolls and she could always make new ones for her and her sisters.

I would consider this folklore traditional. Most of their family before them did not have a lot of money so they always had to make their own fun. Singing was very popular among farm families and it hasn't stopped yet. Songs can be considered oral because they are told through song. They are almost like stories being passed down to the next family. Paper dolls could be traditional folklore because they were made by mothers and daughters alike on the farm. They could be passed down to the next sister, daughter, or mother. It was an easy way to make something pretty and personal that was practically free. By the stories I'm told by my grandparents, I have realized that folklore is culture that can be passed down to each generation. It doesn't have to be physical, but is something that can create happy memories, even with the simplest joys of singing and crafting.

Animal, Vegetable, Mineral

Every winter I get very excited to bust out my warm, leather jacket. It is from Coach and I love every bit of that jacket. I've gotten much use out of it but have often wondered about wondered on the production of getting this jacket. I began doing some searching online on the whereabouts of my jacket. I couldn't find much on it, sadly. I saw on a few different gossip sites to boycott buying coach because of how it isn't an American-made brand. This seemed to be the main beef people had with this brand. I found it also a little concerning that I am not able to find the exact whereabouts of the hides they use. Could there be a much more gruesome way our jackets are being made?  I went onto their main website and found that their products come from, "

Coach product is handcrafted from the finest American and European hides and textiles. As of June 27, 2015, Coach’s products were assembled in manufacturing facilities in 18 countries including the US, Europe and Asia. By using a global supply chain, we are able to deliver innovative products to our customers monthly and keep our price points approximately at half of those of the European luxury brands" (Coach).

 I feel that because my searches weren't very successful, I feel that Coach is not a brand I would like to be associated with. I am going to stop buying from them immediately. It it much too sad that we live in a world where we are not allowed to know the whereabouts of what we put on our backs. This experience was an eye-opener to the shady things a worldwide company can hide.

Work Cited:

Coach. "FAQs." Frequently Asked Questions. Web. 05 Feb. 2016. <http://www.coach.com/faqs.html>.

Tracing My Farming Roots

Farm life is something that I have no knowledge about. I know that it is very hard work, there is dirty work, and that the people who farm always have a sort of humbleness. My grandparents both grew up on farms in the 1940's. This was post WWII and right when the baby boom was happening. During this time, many farmers took up war-related jobs in the cities. New technologies were being invented at this time to help make farming easier like commercial fertilizer being used, frozen foods getting popular in 1941, and switching from horses to tractors in 1945. Farming was becoming much easier and my grandparents both got to experience these new inventions.

Even with these advancements, they still grew up with humble beginnings. They both lived in the midwest, my grandma being from North Dakota and my grandpa from Wisconsin. Both places were cold in the winter and hot in the summer so each families had to prepare for the changing climates.

My grandma grew up on a dairy farm that would help supply milk, cheese, meat, and eggs for the town she lived in. My grandma would get up bright and early in the morning so that she could do her daily chores. She would help feed the animals, milk the cows, and collect eggs from the chickens. She would then go inside and help cook breakfast for the rest of the family. Once that was finished, she would help her mother around the house with whatever chores needed to be done, while her brother helped her dad out on the farm.

My grandpa lived on a farm where he would help his father cultivate crops such as wheat and barley. They had to work fast before the winter snow would fall down. It got very cold in the winter so my grandpa would end up helping in the barn with the animals. He also remembers how hot it would be in the fields during the summer months. He did not enjoy having to work out in the fields and decided to go work at a cheese factory in order to get off the farm. This is where my grandpa developed a hatred for all things diary, and to this day he cannot eat any dairy products (except for ice cream because apparently that's different to him).

My families history in farm life is much more vast than I had believed it to be. It was always a treat learning how different my grandparents grew up from the way I did. I know one day I would love to experience what farm life could be like. As each day goes by, I am thankful for the farmers who work hard to help put food on my table each night. My respect for farmers grows more and more each day and that is how it shall remain.

Work Cited:
"Historical Timeline -- 1940" Agriculture In the Classroom. Web. 24 Jan. 2016. http://www.agclassroom.org/gan/timeline/1940.htm