Food for Thought

This is going to be my final post. And I'd like to use it as a forum to discuss something a little larger than a critique of the food that has fed me for four years.

There has been a lot of publicized tragedy this week. Boston. Texas. India. All over the world. And with a seemingly never-ending self-consumption of a combination of heartbreaking images and stories of extreme heroism, I am fortunate.

I am fortunate that I, or anyone I love, isn't injured or has died as a result of someone else's decisions. But I know others who have been affected. And it's tragic. And they've cried. And I've cried. But the tears we're shedding still mean we're alive.

I don't think we're ever going to live in a world without tragedy. Unfortunately, there's probably always going to something terrible going on somewhere in the world. And it's worse to know that no one is immune. And tomorrow is never guaranteed.

So take today as a gift. I'm graduating from college with a higher education. I have access to clean drinking water. I have clean clothes. I have access to indoor plumbing. I believe the greatest gift I have is the ability and the accessibility to resources to help others.

I encourage everyone to do the same. Use your resources, your abilities, your education to help those less fortunate. Educate yourself to be able to help in dangerous situations. Stay up to date with current events.

So the next time you're complaining about the dining hall food, remember how reluctant you are to be able to complain about it.

Let's Have Dessert Before Dinner

If there is one thing that dining services (unfortunately for my waist) gets right all the time, it's dessert. I've always had a huge sweet tooth so coming to a college that served great desserts was awesome. But, again, didn't make that Freshman 15 easier to keep away.

Pictured above is a chocolate pudding pie, covered in whipped cream and with chocolate cookie pieces on top. I'm a terrible pie slicer, but, hey, it all tastes the same no matter what it looks likes.

As an unhealthy challenge to all my fellow seniors out there, I encourage you to enjoy your just desserts. Eat dessert before dinner. And before lunch. And maybe after. Because these last few weeks are probably going to be some of the few where dessert (delicious, delicious dessert) is available at your whim. It is also probably the only time in your life where it also make too much of a difference on waist line. Well, maybe. But it's dessert.

And with graduation only a few weeks away, we deserve to treat ourselves. I believe indulging in our final dining hall desserts goes on this list: http://www.buzzfeed.com/ariellecalderon/things-youll-never-do-again-after-graduating-coll.

One of the list items from the link is that this is probably the only time in our lives when we will have a meal plan, at least full time meal plans. And as much as everyone has complained about dining hall food now and again (I'm also guilty as charged), take advantage of using your meal plan. If you're not going to use all of your meals, lend them to other underclassmen, commuters, professors, so on. I encourage you to really relish in those tray and plate meals until May 11. Then you can move onto non-prepaid meals.

Nope, This Is Not About Food At All

*As a disclaimer, I had to write this for class. So sorry this week you won’t be reading about my expertise in Cedar Crest dining services. If you have any complaints, please email Christine Schiavo.

Until seventeen, I was not allowed to have a Facebook page. I never had an AIM or a MySpace. When I graduated high school, my mother finally decided it was time to give my sweet internet freedom. I’m not sure how she would have reacted if I decided to use the page to start a revolution in Egypt as opposed to connecting with fellow recent high school graduates.

Facebook, Google, Twitter and other familiar social media organizations are business corporations. In this YouTube video, Mona Eltahawy argues that these social media corporations have a responsibility in the name of human interest to help activists in other countries, specifically the Middle East, join together in the name of democratic revolution. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LAlbajRFgUE

The question of responsibility to these activists from social media corporations is up for debate. Facebook and YouTube have both created obstacles, as stated in the video, for activists who want to use their sites as a tool to bring other activists together. But these are not necessarily the means or values of these social media sites.

If social media sites are either not in favor of or do not want to side with the activists, it is not necessarily in their business model to do so. It is not in the terms of service that these social media have to help the activists. And if they were to make exceptions for activists, would they have to then give these freedoms to the other users of their sites? If these social media corporations want to change the way their sites work to accommodate these activists, that is completely up to them, but as of right now, they are in no regards to do so.