Unit1 Revision: Observing Through a Different Lens
SURVIVORS! “They are survivors,” Dania my colleague stressed to me. I insistently asked, ” but are they not considered victims at first?” Dania once again stressed, “Mervet they are survivors.” I let her words set in for a bit; I looked up at her and nodded showing her I understood, but deep down I knew I probably needed more time to internalize exactly what she seemed to be defining. On that particular evening Dania and I did an intake on a woman at Asiyah Women’s Center, (lets call that particular woman Chantel) who was fleeing a very abusive relationship. There was something about Chantel’s situation that really made me very sad, yet so angry all at the same time. First off when she first came to our center she was covered with bruises from head to toe, she looked beyond traumatized because of the abuse she endured. Chantel then ended the intake by telling us her final straw of this abuse was when her partner tried killing her last night; Chantel then pulled down her turtleneck, filled with what looked like purpura type bruises (dark purple bruises caused by internal bleeding of some sort) all along her neck. The sight of that was something I could not fathom. How can someone be able to do something like this? This was beyond inhumane. I was so enraged and saddened that this was what she has been going through for so long.
I vividly remember walking to my car on that cold night, everything seemed so empty to me, the leaves so still, the cool breeze passed me like dry, suffocating air. Thoughts of Chantel, images , and her words were racing through my mind. I was in a complete trance thinking of how traumatized she must be. I started telling myself, “Chantel is a survvv”, I couldn’t allow myself to define her that way; Chantel is…. Chantel is… “Ughhh”, I then took a long, deep breath and silenced my thoughts for the car ride home.
By the middle of the next week I began to feel more balanced emotionally; I felt like a lot of my energy had been restored, I knew I had a lot to do that day. I poured myself some coffee, and was all ready to start my day; as I was walking to my car, I could hear my neighbor Muna calling my name, “Mervet”, as I turned to respond to her I noticed she looked very sad and upset, she was usually always smiley. I walked over to her, and asked her “ what’s wrong”? Muna had watery eyes, tears streaming down her face, “Do you remember the teacher that taught at P.S. 29, her name was Jeanine Cammarata? I believe she might have taught your kids” , Muna asked. My thoughts began racing again, hmmm her name really didn’t ring a bell, she definitely wasn’t one of my daughters’ elementary school teachers, she must be a newer teacher. I looked up at Muna after being in my head for a bit, “ I don’t know her, she must be a newer teacher”, I replied. “She was a newer teacher, and my kids can’t believe this has happened to her”, Muna sobbed desperately, “her ex husband who she has been afraid of and she recently divorced, murdered her forty eight hours ago”. At that very moment I couldn’t believe what I was hearing; I began rambling, “did she ever complain about being in danger? Or dealing with a predator like that, it is not easy to take on alone and usually these women need an undisclosed location for a bit. I would have kept her in our center, until she felt safe”. Muna looked at me, “I didn’t realize where you volunteer is for women fleeing from domestic abuse, this kind of information could have helped Jeanine live, she probably didn’t have anyone to turn to, nowhere to go for help, Mervet she could have survived.”
I spent the rest of that week thinking about Jeanine, a woman I didn’t know. All I knew was her story, her ending. Muna’s words stuck out to me. Her pain, this was very real for her, Jeanine was someone very dear to her, she was her good friend. Her words, She could have survived, she could have survived this, survived this… my thoughts once again racing. At that moment a daunting yet epiphanic realization grew over me. Through Jeanine’s story I was truly able to understand the harsh,cruel reality these women deal with day in and day out. Understanding that domestic violence isn’t always obvious to spot, it’s a largely hidden crime occurring mainly behind closed doors. These women are conditioned to believe that there will never be any kind of support out there for them, they are under-resourced because their partner has full control over them. The women that end up coming to our center for an intake, they come in with some kind of hope; in spite of all of their overwhelming obstacles, they still find that little bit of courage within themselves and take this blind leap . By learning a bit more about Jeanine Cammarata’s story I got to know she too was a woman of incredible strength with a very unfortunate ending. These women were rendered powerless, and still did not break; to be able to speak out, overcome their plight, and change their fate. Well that’s resilience, and that takes incredible strength!
Fridays were usually my days to go in for any intakes. This specific Friday felt different to me, the weather was warm; there was this light breeze that embraced me, I felt protected, and hopeful. I finally arrived at the center for my evening intake. Across from me sat a woman (lets call her Sonia), she really was not making much eye contact with me; she seemed very distraught. Sonia began telling me some information about herself; she then started expressing more personal information about the abuse she’s endured, and how she wants her children to live free from this hell. Sonia wore this uncontrollable fear and anxiety on her; along with that, tears that continued to stream down her face, but Sonia dug deep that evening. “You have nothing to worry about anymore, he does not know where you are, and you are safe. We are going to get you the help you need”, I assured her, she hugged me and thanked me. Sonia sat closer to me, showing me pictures of her kids. She was expressing how dear they were to her, how happy and content they make her feel. She even began to share some candid,funny stories about her daughter. I sat there and took in her stories that made her most happy. I was listening, but also observing intently. I couldn’t help but admire her courage. That evening I wore a different lens; A lens that allowed my vision to be clear of any fog. I was able to truly see. What I saw was a woman who was beyond brave. I saw resilience, I saw incredible strength. I saw a survivor. Sonia is a survivor.
Strength doesn’t come from what you can do. It comes from overcoming the things you once thought you couldn’t. -(Rikki Rogers)
“Unit2 Revision: Our Schizophrenic Relationship with Food
Imagine a world without any consequences, in which we can eat a limitless amount of food. We can eat whatever! Whenever! We probably wouldn’t care about what is healthy, and simply just enjoy food for only it’s taste. Well, one can only dream about this alternate reality; unfortunately, that is not the case. What we eat, and how much we eat can really affect our overall health. Now let me throw down that imaginary veil, and let you in on the real world we live in; we live in a world full of processed food, making it so hard to start any kind of New Year’s resolution, and actually stick to a balanced, healthy lifestyle. Food in America is pushed on us constantly, always swaying us towards the extra large spectrum of choices, and with that comes major consequences. These foods contain polyunsaturated fats, which is a type of fat we should really steer clear of.
To add even more fuel to this fiery confusion of processed food mania taking front, and center stage in every state, and supermarket; Food companies have changed the basic chemistry of food, making them extremely addictive. Processed foods literally spikes your blood sugar levels so high, hijacking the balanced chemistry in our brain; We begin to want to consume it compulsively, because of how quickly it excites out brain. We basically become wired to where we can’t just eat moderately. I always thought chips, and fast food had these hidden powers, leaving me hungrier even after eating so much of it. This powerful combination constantly had me hooked.
All of these processed foods have been expertly engineered to keep us addicted, causing us to overeat, fueling a global epidemic of extreme obesity and chronic disease. An example of a harmful industrially processed food is polyunsaturated fats, they contain high amounts of omega 6s. Omega 6s are not good for us at all, we should be consuming a much more higher ratio of omega 3s, which is the healthy saturated fat our body needs. There are such high amounts of omega 6s in polyunsaturated fats, this ratio of disproportioned fats causes our body chemistry to not be n-sync with them at all. The change in their composition of fatty acids caused ramifications which led to a significant increase in obesity. I took the time to talk to an old friend Aiman Fatima about what I have learned about poly unsaturated fats and it’s affects on us; she seemed to know a lot about it, being that she is health conscientious, and has been in the health field with her masters in nursing for a while now. Aiman Fatima mentioned that, “hydrogenated fats are poly unsaturated fats with added hydrogen units by hydrogenation. Also called trans fatty acids. So there is a difference between poly unsaturated and hydrogenated fats, the former being good, and the latter being bad. Some examples of good poly unsaturated fats are unhydrogenated soybean oil, omega 3 fatty acids in salmon, mackerel, and sardines. Some examples of the harmful poly unsaturated fats are: mazola oil, canola oil, soybean oil, crisco, sunflower oil, cotton-seed oil, and corn oil. As a nurse, if you are talking about a diet with your patient, you need to have that research presented to them, their willingness to jump on a diet depends on how educated they are about nutrition. People seem more aware about nutrition, and are really trying these days, but they don’t seem to be healthier.” There’s so much wisdom here; we seem to be seeking this knowledge, and have this thirst for nutritional growth, but as the years pass being consistently healthy seems exceedly challenging.
This obesity epidemic was something Americans didn’t have to deal with four decades ago. At that time an average American household had an increase of weight which averaged around five to ten pounds a year. Due to agribusiness and modern agriculture western diets, the average American household is now gaining an average of fifty to hundred pounds a year; this is due to food containing excessive levels of poly-unsaturated fats, and it being stressed to us, to steer clear of any saturated fats. In the 1990s the diet industry grew bigger and faster, affirming that our big enemy was full fat foods, a marketing scheme which blew up, low fat everything was born because of these false affirmations. The crazy part of this process is, the food companies were swapping out the good full fat the food initially had and replacing it with hydrogenated oils and sugar, creating a low fat food product. Americans were fooled for decades, food companies highlighted the fact that these products are low fat, and will in fact help you lose weight, but what they failed to even mention was that these reconstructed vegetable oils carry high levels polyunsaturated fats, an incredibly evil fat that destroys your heart, liver, raising your bad cholesterol, causing a major surge in our insulin, and ruining our basic metabolic function. Unfortunately. hydrogenated vegetable oil is a way too familiar ingredient in almost all sauces, dips, condiments, and dressings. Hydrogenated vegetable oil is in most of our snacks, chips, desserts, and foods. They are in almost everything. Can this be the real culprit of these spewing health problems increasing the past few decades?
A nutritionist, health coach, wellness educator, and founder of SLVRBK yoga mat, Steven Macari writes:
The primary issue with PUFAs is that they are highly unstable. All fats have a temperature with which they oxidize (i.e. become unstable, go rancid, become toxic). For PUFAs that temperature is very low. An easy way to remember this is that Unsaturated fats are unstable and Saturated fats are Stable. Unstable fats are prone to oxidation. Oxidation lead to free radicals. Free radicals lead to cellular damage in your body that can manifest both internally in the form of damaged organs/glands and externally in the form of rapidly aging skin (Marcari, 2015). Steven Marcari breaks down why PUFAS are so unstable, PUFAS become very unstable in low temperatures, the human body is 98.6 degrees Fahrenheit (which is way higher than their limit); which basically would cause the PUFAS to go rancid once in our body and create inflammation within our body. It should be noted that diseases in general has increased dramatically since PUFAS have been introduced, also the rate of obesity drastically increased in the average American household (Gifford,2021).
Professor Harumi Okuyama, the senior author, along with seven other prominent scientists have contributed their time and helped with advancements in knowledge towards nutrition and disease. Their findings contradict most of what we once believed was once “heart healthy for us.” Professor Okuyama states, “Certain types of vegetable oil and hydrogenated oil shortened the survival of stroke-prone spontaneously hypertensive rats by decreasing platelet number, increasing hemorrhagic tendency and damaging kidney functions, which could not be accounted for by their fatty acid and phytosterol compositions. One of the most important mineral in the human body is vitamin K2. Vitamin K2 plays many importance rolls through-out our body. Vitamin K2 works as kind of a map-quest system for calcium, our tissues utilize vitamin K to ensure that our calcium is deposited in our bones; when we become vitamin K deficient because of primal causation, the calcium has no guided direction through out our body, and starts to build up in all the wrong places like our major organs. This calcification in our organs leads to most of the major diseases Americans suffer from today. Unfortunately polyunsaturated fats inhibit the absorption of vitamin K2. These vegetable oils and medicines such as statin and warfarin share, in part, a common mechanism to inhibit vitamin K2-dependent processes, which was interpreted to lead to increased onset of Cardio Vascular Disease, Diabetes Mellitus, chronic kidney disease, bone fracture and even mental disorder.” I know this all seems like a bunch of medical terms swarming around our head causing confusion, but Professor Harumi is making a basic connection between statin (which is a medication diabetics take daily), and polyunsaturated fats. His findings include that when the lab rat was given statin vitamin K2 was inhibited completely; this inhibition also occurred when the lab rat was given any kind of vegetable oils or hydrogenated oils. This makes me question the commodity of food and so much of the false pretenses that were highlighted to lure us into these industry traps. The American Food Industry has pushed vegetable oils and hydrogenated oils down our throats, claiming they were healthy and not saturated in heavy fats like butter. These polyunsaturated fats have been proven to have a causal effect on our bodies; as proven by Professor Harumi and his seven scientists they prevent any kind of vitamin K2 production in our body.
We may all want to live in a world where we can eat fried chicken everyday; keeping that imaginary veil shielded over us, but lets try to consider some truth and bring ourselves to light; we must try to make better choices. All this regurgitated information probably helps explain why so many Americans have such a schizophrenic relationship with food the past fifty years. Our primary physicians persistently pushing us to steer clear of processed foods or any fast foods. They are always trying to help us become more mindful about what we are eating. We know becoming healthy individuals will not happen over night; especially when everything being sold to us in our local supermarkets are full of highly processed ingredients, designed to make us keep coming back for more, but if we take this information and apply it, we will make the improvements we need. Purchasing an air fryer will help immensely; also reading the ingredients in the back of any food labels thoroughly will keep us aware; this is the best way to keep those hidden polyunsaturated fats from sneaking up on us.
Gifford, Dawn, and About The Author Dawn Gifford Dawn is the creator of Small Footprint Family. “Why Are We Fat? – Dangers of Polyunsaturated Oils.” Small Footprint Family™, 5 Aug. 2021, https://www.smallfootprintfamily.com/dangers-of-polyunsaturated-oils.
Macari, Steven. “A Nutritionist’s Holistic Guide to the Perfect Food Day.” Harper’s BAZAAR, Harper’s BAZAAR, 24 Feb. 2022, https://www.harpersbazaar.com/culture/travel-dining/a12139/a-nutritionists-daily-diet/.
Okuyama, Harumi. “Https://Www.karger.com/Article/Pdf/446704.”
Unit 3: Polyunsaturated Fats Podcast
ARTIST STATEMENT
Starting a conversation always breaks barriers, creating a foundational system of understanding. I chose to create a podcast. My podcast explores the reality of what is in our food through conversation. I thought a great way to send a message about poly unsaturated fats would be to do so through a podcast. Creating a podcast and voicing the knowledge I have learned would be a great way to share the knowledge. In the podcast I tried being creative, I added a bit of role play, bringing my work to life in a more playful, yet professional manner. My specific role for my podcast was playing the part of a nutritionist, and New York Times best selling author Healing through Real Whole Foods. My husband (who took the name Jack Lambert) was a part of this podcast as well, his specific role was the founder of this podcast, The Ultimate Truth. Host Jack Lambert always enjoys engaging with all the guests he invites on his podcasts, asking unfiltered, straight forward questions viewers would want to ask.
My real end goal for this Unit 3 project was to have fun with it, but most importantly I tried creating it with precision. Jack Lambert and I owned our roles in this assignment and tried to really bring this research to light, hoping it grabs the attention of the listener all the way through-out the episode. My target audience are the CUNY students, I want to try to entertain them as well as provide beneficial information. As far as precision goes, I made sure the sound quality of this podcast is good. We did a few runs, making sure volume levels were consistent through-out. I tried to avoid any muffled vocal recording sounds; I thought using this approach would help welcome my viewers in, so they enjoy listening, and become loyal listeners.
Final Reflection
I usually find writing very therapeutic. A personal narrative was always my go-to style of writing; my thoughts pour out naturally and effortlessly with this style of writing. For my unit one assignment I created a personal narrative; writing that particular paper seemed very effortless, It was basically a personal experience that I had to revisit again and write about. A very helpful tip that Professor Hall suggested we use in our unit one assignment was depicting the scene through our words. As I revisited my personal story within my mind, I tried thinking of ways to describe the scene that would make the reader feel like they were right there too. I did this by remembering key details about the setting, thinking about what I was surrounded by in that very moment. I wrote down those extra descriptions toward every new scene in my narrative, I felt as if this made the reader feel very engaged and present in my story. I wanted the reader to feel like they were literally watching my story through a snow globe; hoping they would understand the exact feelings I was internalizing at each and every moment throughout my personal narrative. An example of adding more of these descriptive details would be in my second paragraph of my unit one assignment. I mentioned the setting around me as I was walking back to my car. I quoted that , “ I vividly remember walking to my car on that cold night, everything seemed so empty to me, the leaves so still, the cool breeze passed me like dry, suffocating air.” I really thought this tip about describing the setting around me helped my reader visualize my story, understanding what I saw and felt after the intake. Initially I felt like my story seemed slightly basic, but when I added more description, it gave the reader a more visual aspect to my story; which really improved the overall narrative, creating a much more engaging story.
Normally in the past I found myself just sort of brainstorming all these thoughts down on paper all in one sitting. I would arrange those written thoughts onto a paper and create my story. I would create a introduction, I would create the middle, then conclude with my end. Sometimes without even realizing it, I would be sitting down for hours until I would finish and finally submit my final draft. Early on in the semester, Professor Hall stressed the importance of rough drafts. Rough drafts were not something I have ever done, and because of that I did not know they had such a vital purpose. This additional factor before submitting my finished product was actually something very new to me. I used the tools Professor Hall taught us, created two rough drafts before submitting my final paper. Creating two drafts allowed my work to come together in a more polished manner without feeling too overwhelmed. In Fact, I found that creating the rough drafts really made me have a better sequence of my message and found the delivery more smooth.
In my Unit one assignment I chose to write about the power of the word survivor. I quoted, “these women were rendered powerless, and still did not break; to be able to speak out, overcome their plight, and change their fate. Well that’s resilience, and that takes incredible strength.” Professor Hall pointed out that I also should have included Jeanine Cammarata’s strength, it was almost as if I had dismissed her strength all together. When I re-read my paper carefully, I fully understood what Professor Hall meant; even though Jeanine died and didn’t get a chance to change her fate, it certainly doesn’t take away from her strength at all. Jeanine’s courage is something her relatives and friends always speak of and she will forever have that impact on her community. When I revised it, I ended up including a quote saying, “ by learning a bit more about Jeanine Cammarata’s story I got to know she too was a woman of incredible strength with a very unfortunate ending.” I felt like this additional sentence before my initial quote helped tie Jeanine together with the strength and resilience I first mentioned.
As I mentioned earlier-my favorite aspect of this English course was using my personal experiences as my primal resource. I also thought it was quite clever of Professor Hall to ask us to choose from a long list of topics from different genres of articles and have us read about it on our Perusall site. It allowed us to read and learn about what interested us.
I was challenged a bit with our unit two paper. The unit two paper was a bit different than my go-to-style of personal narrative; we were asked to write a research paper with quotes and citations. Professor Hall really took the time to break it all down, she gave us a solid foundation to start and fully execute this paper. I personally was very stressed out about this paper because I had to gather so much different information about a topic I was very, very new to learning about, but once we applied the rough draft and worked on different parts of our paper week by week; I was able to really have a puzzle of great research pieces that I knew would fit by the end of my compiled research. After a few weeks of our rough drafts, and research, I really felt like this once new research I knew nothing about became something I knew so much about. I wanted to present valid information about polyunsaturated fats, and really explain the negative effects it has on our body. I quoted that, “polyunsaturated fats inhibit the absorption of vitamin K2. These vegetable oils and medicines such as statin and warfarin share, in part, a common mechanism to inhibit vitamin K2-dependent processes.” When I added this information at first I didn’t realize I wasn’t explaining the importance of vitamin k2, and what it really is to us. Professor Hall suggested I first explain what vitamin k2 is, and its importance before talking about its inhibitions. Professor Hall’s constructive tips really does help ring a bell in my mind, and I fully understood, what she meant. I ended up adding that vitamin k2 is one of the most important minerals our body needs, and its importance in detail.
I now can say I really have become a better writer overall. I am glad that Professor Hall thoroughly explained how we can improve in detail. She always wanted us to understand where her constructive criticism was coming from, and gave us the tools to revise it, without making us feel like it was wrong or she was disappointed in our work, which I wholeheartedly appreciated. I now focus on planning, writing, revising, and reflecting while composing my paper. English1121 has been a very successful course for me, with progressive improvements along the way; This course allowed me to gain a different appreciation for writing; it has taught me that if I engage enough with any type of research I can write about it in an effective and very organized way. I will take what I learned this semester and apply it to all my future writing assignments.
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