Works Cited:
Keryl Cryer. "How did they think of that?" The journey of vegetarian foods from idea to store shelves" (Online), Vegetarian Journal, March-April 2004, http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m0FDE/is_2_23/ai_n6021648, April 18th, 2007.
Merriam-Webster. “Dictionary” (Online), http://reference.aol.com/dictionary?dword=vegetarianism&lookupbtn=Look+Up, April 21st, 2007.
References For Pictures:
¨ Morningstar Farms: http://community.morningstarfarms.com/home.aspx
¨ Boca Burgers: http://www.bocaburger.com/
¨ Veggie Shrimp and Chicken Legs: http://www.google.com/
Monday, April 23, 2007
Vegetarianism: It Looks Like Actual Meat!
Vegetarianism is “the theory or practice of living on a diet made up of vegetables, fruits, grains, nuts, and sometimes eggs or dairy products.” (Webster Dictionary)
A vegetarian’s main focus is to restrain from meat products in his or her diet. Some vegetarians eat dairy and/or egg products while others don’t. There are several types of vegetarians. Some include, lacto-vegetarians (eats dairy products), lacto-ovo-vegetarians (eats dairy and egg products), vegans (eats no meat, dairy, or egg products), macrobiotics (eats seafood), and fruitarians (eats fruits and vegetables). Some people also consider themselves as semi-vegetarians. They eat meat products from time to time.
Many vegetarians eat packaged items which are made from soy products. These items are often made to resemble actual meat products. One may inquire how the idea of creating these products started. “The first step in creating any new food product is for someone to come up with a concept for an item.” (“How did they think of that?”) This article explains how the idea of creating these vegetarian products started. Just as one would experiment with various combinations of objects when attempting to create something, when creating a recipe, or new vegetarian product in this case, one must conduct a test by mixing several things together to create the end product.
Perhaps the most popular brands of these products are Morningstar Farms and Boca Burgers. Craig Snow “was developing vegetarian products for ConAgra, which makes Healthy Choice and Banquet items. Craig became a Group Leader in the Product Development Division of the company, which was already distributing vegetarian products to mainstream supermarkets under the Morningstar Farms brand name.” (“How did they think of that?”) Craig, a vegan for twelve years now, plays a very important role in coming up with ideas for these products. He works together with his group to think of new ideas. “Concepts also come from other areas, such as marketing, sales, research, and consumer information. Together, the departments look at food trends and what their competition is producing.” (“How did they think of that?”)
One can see that a major factor of this whole process is competition. In supermarkets, these products take up only one little section of the freezer, if there’s any section at all. So, what do people think of these products? I conducted a survey in which I asked vegetarians as well as non-vegetarians what they think about these items. The ages of the people I surveyed ranged from twelve to fifty-four. Overall, I surveyed thirteen people. Seven people stated that they are vegetarians. Four are lacto-ovo vegetarians, while three are lacto-vegetarians. Only two of them are born vegetarians. When asked the question, why did you become a vegetarian?, the majority of them answered that the main reason is because of religion.
On the other hand, five people that I surveyed are not vegetarians and one person is semi-vegetarian. Some of them have never tried any of these products and some tried a few, like tofu and veggie burgers. Most of the people I surveyed felt that these vegetarian products are a great source of protein. Many of them said that the options of the products give vegetarians a variety of different items to choose from, and they are also great for beginner vegetarians because it helps them through the transition of being a meat eater to a vegetarian. However, some of the vegetarians that took the survey do not eat these products at all. A few of the non-vegetarians never heard of some of these items, such as the shrimp, chicken legs, lamb, etc.
Personally, I think these products are a wonderful source of protein. I became a vegetarian eight years ago for a few reasons. The main reason is because of my religion. Another reason is because I don’t think it is appropriate to hurt other living things, in this case, animals. One more reason is because my boyfriend is a Hindu priest and Hindu priests are encouraged to practice vegetarianism, so I chose to do this along with him. We are both lacto-ovo vegetarians and eat these products occasionally. I think when I first became a vegetarian in 1999, by eating some of these items, I was better able to make the change. While some of these products look and taste just like meat, I don’t think it’s always a case where a person is pretending to eat. I think it’s a form of encouraging the person in a way because it gives him or her more options to choose from, while still maintaining a healthy diet.
A vegetarian’s main focus is to restrain from meat products in his or her diet. Some vegetarians eat dairy and/or egg products while others don’t. There are several types of vegetarians. Some include, lacto-vegetarians (eats dairy products), lacto-ovo-vegetarians (eats dairy and egg products), vegans (eats no meat, dairy, or egg products), macrobiotics (eats seafood), and fruitarians (eats fruits and vegetables). Some people also consider themselves as semi-vegetarians. They eat meat products from time to time.
Many vegetarians eat packaged items which are made from soy products. These items are often made to resemble actual meat products. One may inquire how the idea of creating these products started. “The first step in creating any new food product is for someone to come up with a concept for an item.” (“How did they think of that?”) This article explains how the idea of creating these vegetarian products started. Just as one would experiment with various combinations of objects when attempting to create something, when creating a recipe, or new vegetarian product in this case, one must conduct a test by mixing several things together to create the end product.
Perhaps the most popular brands of these products are Morningstar Farms and Boca Burgers. Craig Snow “was developing vegetarian products for ConAgra, which makes Healthy Choice and Banquet items. Craig became a Group Leader in the Product Development Division of the company, which was already distributing vegetarian products to mainstream supermarkets under the Morningstar Farms brand name.” (“How did they think of that?”) Craig, a vegan for twelve years now, plays a very important role in coming up with ideas for these products. He works together with his group to think of new ideas. “Concepts also come from other areas, such as marketing, sales, research, and consumer information. Together, the departments look at food trends and what their competition is producing.” (“How did they think of that?”)
One can see that a major factor of this whole process is competition. In supermarkets, these products take up only one little section of the freezer, if there’s any section at all. So, what do people think of these products? I conducted a survey in which I asked vegetarians as well as non-vegetarians what they think about these items. The ages of the people I surveyed ranged from twelve to fifty-four. Overall, I surveyed thirteen people. Seven people stated that they are vegetarians. Four are lacto-ovo vegetarians, while three are lacto-vegetarians. Only two of them are born vegetarians. When asked the question, why did you become a vegetarian?, the majority of them answered that the main reason is because of religion.
On the other hand, five people that I surveyed are not vegetarians and one person is semi-vegetarian. Some of them have never tried any of these products and some tried a few, like tofu and veggie burgers. Most of the people I surveyed felt that these vegetarian products are a great source of protein. Many of them said that the options of the products give vegetarians a variety of different items to choose from, and they are also great for beginner vegetarians because it helps them through the transition of being a meat eater to a vegetarian. However, some of the vegetarians that took the survey do not eat these products at all. A few of the non-vegetarians never heard of some of these items, such as the shrimp, chicken legs, lamb, etc.
Personally, I think these products are a wonderful source of protein. I became a vegetarian eight years ago for a few reasons. The main reason is because of my religion. Another reason is because I don’t think it is appropriate to hurt other living things, in this case, animals. One more reason is because my boyfriend is a Hindu priest and Hindu priests are encouraged to practice vegetarianism, so I chose to do this along with him. We are both lacto-ovo vegetarians and eat these products occasionally. I think when I first became a vegetarian in 1999, by eating some of these items, I was better able to make the change. While some of these products look and taste just like meat, I don’t think it’s always a case where a person is pretending to eat. I think it’s a form of encouraging the person in a way because it gives him or her more options to choose from, while still maintaining a healthy diet.
Tuesday, April 17, 2007
Survey For Research Project
Name: _____________________ (Optional)
Age: _______
Gender: Male Female
Religion: ___________________________
1. Are you a vegetarian? Yes No
2. If yes, what type of a vegetarian are you?
-Lacto vegetarian (eats dairy products)
-Lacto-ovo vegetarian (eats dairy and egg products)
- Vegan (eats no meat, dairy, or egg products)
- Macrobiotic (eats seafood)
- Fruitarian (eats fruits and vegetables)
- Other ______________________________
3. How long have you been a vegetarian? __________________________
4. Why did you become a vegetarian? (Religion, Weight, Health, etc.)
______________________________________________________
______________________________________________________
5. How do you feel about the different vegetarian products that are being sold? (Vegetarian burgers, shrimp, chicken, lamb, fish, etc.)
______________________________________________________
______________________________________________________
______________________________________________________
______________________________________________________
6. Do you eat these products? If yes, which ones do you eat?
______________________________________________________
______________________________________________________
Age: _______
Gender: Male Female
Religion: ___________________________
1. Are you a vegetarian? Yes No
2. If yes, what type of a vegetarian are you?
-Lacto vegetarian (eats dairy products)
-Lacto-ovo vegetarian (eats dairy and egg products)
- Vegan (eats no meat, dairy, or egg products)
- Macrobiotic (eats seafood)
- Fruitarian (eats fruits and vegetables)
- Other ______________________________
3. How long have you been a vegetarian? __________________________
4. Why did you become a vegetarian? (Religion, Weight, Health, etc.)
______________________________________________________
______________________________________________________
5. How do you feel about the different vegetarian products that are being sold? (Vegetarian burgers, shrimp, chicken, lamb, fish, etc.)
______________________________________________________
______________________________________________________
______________________________________________________
______________________________________________________
6. Do you eat these products? If yes, which ones do you eat?
______________________________________________________
______________________________________________________
Shooting at Virginia Tech.
I think the tragedy that took place at Virginia Tech was a very sad event. It's amazing how people can take the innocent lives of others when we live in a society where people are fighting to survive every day. Thirty three people lost their lives and this incident became the deadliest shooting in all of the United States history. I think what makes this tragedy worse is that the gunman has been identified as a Virginia Tech student in at least the second of the two campus attacks. It leaves me to think, how can someone actually do that?
As I sat in Biology class this morning, my professor received a call from his brother in India. He called to make sure that everyone at St. John's is okay because he heard there was a shooting at a University. I immediately thought..wow...the news of this incident has become worldwide so quickly.
As I was reading the article, there were pictures and captions of Past School Shootings. I noticed that most of these shootings took place by teens, rather students as young as ages 11 and 13. I think the society is gradually becoming more and more corrupt. One reason is because of the media. Kids see these weapons like guns on television all of the time and it's only natural for some of them to want to have experiences with these things. Children, as well as adults, are very curious and everyone knows that when you tell a child not to do something, or he can't have something, he immediately tries to go against you because of curiosity. I think this tragedy has once again brought people together, as did the September 11 attacks, but neither of the incidents brought them together in a peaceful manner.
Shooting Tragedy at Virginia Tech
Gunman Identified as Virginia Tech Student
Bush, First Lady to Visit School for Convocation
By ADAM GELLER
AP
BLACKSBURG, Va. (April 17) -- Virginia Tech's president said Tuesday that a student was the gunman in at least the second of the two campus attacks that claimed 33 lives to become the deadliest shooting rampage in modern U.S. history.
Though he did not explicitly say the student was also the gunman in the first shooting, he said he did not believe there was another shooter at large. Two hours after two people were killed at a dormitory Monday, 30 more people were killed at a campus building by a gunman who finally killed himself with a shot to his head. "We do know that he was an Asian male -- this is the second incident -- an Asian man who was a resident in one of our dormitories," university president Charles Steger said in an interview with CNN, confirming for the first time that the killer was a student. Steger also defended the university's delay in warning students after the first shooting. Some students said their first notice came in an e-mail at 9:26 a.m., after the second shooting had begun. Steger said the university was trying to notify students who were already on-campus, not those who were commuting in.
“We warned the students that we thought were immediately impacted,” he told CNN. “We felt that confining them to the classroom was how to keep them safest.” He said investigators did not know there was a shooter loose on campus in the interval between the two shootings because the first could have been a murder-suicide. Two students told NBC's "Today" show they were unaware of the dorm shooting when they reported to a German class where the gunman later opened fire. Derek O'Dell, his arm in a cast after being shot, described a shooter who fired away in "eerily silence" with "no specific target -- just taking out anybody he could." After the gunman left the room, students could hear him shooting other people down the hall. O'Dell said he and other students barricaded the door so the shooter couldn't get back in _ though he later tried. "After he couldn't get the door open he tried shooting it open... but the gunshots were blunted by the door," O'Dell said.
The slayings left people of this once-peaceful mountain town and the university at its heart praying for the victims, struggling to find order in a tragedy of such unspeakable horror it defies reason. President Bush and first lady Laura Bush were planning to attend a 2 p.m. convocation Tuesday, and people sought comfort Monday night at a church servide. One mourner pleaded "for parents near and far who wonder at a time like this, 'Is my child safe?'" That question promises to haunt Blacksburg long after Monday's attacks. Investigators offered no motive, and the gunman's name was not released. The shooting began about 7:15 a.m. on the fourth floor of West Ambler Johnston, a high-rise coed dormitory where two people died. Police were still investigating around 9:15 a.m., when a gunman wielding two handguns and carrying multiple clips of ammunition stormed Norris Hall, a classroom building a half-mile away on the other side of the 2,600-acre campus. At least 15 people were hurt in the second attack, some seriously. Many found themselves trapped after someone, apparently the shooter, chained and locked Norris Hall doors from the inside.
Students jumped from windows, and students and faculty carried away some of the wounded without waiting for ambulances to arrive. SWAT team members with helmets, flak jackets and assault rifles swarmed over the campus. A student used his cell-phone camera to record the sound of bullets echoing through a stone building. Inside Norris, the attack began with a thunderous sound from Room 206 -- "what sounded like an enormous hammer," said Alec Calhoun, a 20-year-old junior who was in a solid mechanics lecture in a classroom next door. Screams followed an instant later, and the banging continued. When students realized the sounds were gunshots, Calhoun said, he started flipping over desks to make hiding places. Others dashed to the windows of the second-floor classroom, kicking out the screens and jumping from the ledge of Room 204, he said. "I must've been the eighth or ninth person who jumped, and I think I was the last," said Calhoun, of Waynesboro, Va. He landed in a bush and ran.
Calhoun said that the two students behind him were shot, but that he believed they survived. Just before he climbed out the window, Calhoun said, he turned to look at his professor, who had stayed behind, apparently to prevent the gunman from opening the door. The instructor was killed, Calhoun said. Erin Sheehan, who was in the German class next door to Calhoun's class, told the student newspaper, the Collegiate Times, that she was one of only four of about two dozen people in the class to walk out of the room. The rest were dead or wounded, she said. She said the gunman "was just a normal-looking kid, Asian, but he had on a Boy Scout-type outfit. He wore a tan button-up vest, and this black vest, maybe it was for ammo or something." The gunman first shot the professor in the head and then fired on the class, another student, Trey Perkins, told The Washington Post. The gunman was about 19 years old and had a "very serious but very calm look on his face," he said. "Everyone hit the floor at that moment," said Perkins, 20, of Yorktown, Va., a sophomore studying mechanical engineering. "And the shots seemed like it lasted forever." At an evening news conference, Police Chief Wendell Flinchum refused to dismiss the possibility that a co-conspirator or second shooter was involved. He said police had interviewed a male who was a "person of interest" in the dorm shooting and who knew one of the victims, but he declined to give details. "I'm not saying there's a gunman on the loose," Flinchum said. Ballistics tests will help explain what happened, he said. Some students bitterly complained that the first e-mail warning arrived more than two hours after the first shots. "I think the university has blood on their hands because of their lack of action after the first incident," said Billy Bason, 18, who lives on the seventh floor of the dorm. Steger emphasized that the university closed off the dorm after the first attack and decided to rely on e-mail and other electronic means to spread the word, but said that with 11,000 people driving onto campus first thing in the morning, it was difficult to get the word out. He said that before the e-mail was sent, the university began telephoning resident advisers in the dorms and sent people to knock on doors. Students were warned to stay inside and away from the windows. "We can only make decisions based on the information you had at the time. You don't have hours to reflect on it," Steger said. The 9:26 e-mail had few details: "A shooting incident occurred at West Amber Johnston earlier this morning. Police are on the scene and are investigating." Until Monday, the deadliest shooting in modern U.S. history was in Killeen, Texas, in 1991, when George Hennard plowed his pickup truck into a Luby's Cafeteria and shot 23 people to death, then himself. The massacre Monday took place almost eight years to the day after the Columbine High bloodbath near Littleton, Colo. On April 20, 1999, two teenagers killed 12 fellow students and a teacher before taking their own lives. Previously, the deadliest campus shooting in U.S. history was a rampage that took place in 1966 at the University of Texas at Austin, where Charles Whitman climbed the clock tower and opened fire with a rifle from the 28th-floor observation deck. He killed 16 people before he was shot to death by police. Founded in 1872, Virginia Tech is nestled in southwestern Virginia, about 160 miles west of Richmond. With more than 25,000 full-time students, it has the state's largest full-time student population. The school is best known for its engineering school and its powerhouse Hokies football team. Police said there had been bomb threats on campus over the past two weeks but that they had not determined whether they were linked to the shootings. It was second time in less than a year that the campus was closed because of gunfire. Last August, the opening day of classes was canceled when an escaped jail inmate allegedly killed a hospital guard off campus and fled to the Tech area. A sheriff's deputy was killed just off campus. The accused gunman, William Morva, faces capital murder charges. Among the dead were professors Liviu Librescu and Kevin Granata, said Ishwar K. Puri, the head of the engineering science and mechanics department. Librescu, an Israeli, was born in Romania and was known internationally for his research in aeronautical engineering, Puri wrote in an e-mail to The Associated Press. Granata and his students researched muscle and reflex response and robotics. Puri called him one of the top five biomechanics researchers in the country working on movement dynamics in cerebral palsy. Also killed was Ryan Clark, a student from Martinez, Ga., who had several majors and carried a 4.0 grade-point average, said Vernon Collins, coroner in Columbia County, Ga. His friend Gregory Walton, a 25-year-old who graduated last year, said he feared the nightmare had just begun. "I knew when the number was so large that I would know at least one person on that list," said Walton, a banquet manager. "I don't want to look at that list. I don't want to. "It's just, it's going to be horrible, and it's going to get worse before it gets better."
Bush, First Lady to Visit School for Convocation
By ADAM GELLER
AP
BLACKSBURG, Va. (April 17) -- Virginia Tech's president said Tuesday that a student was the gunman in at least the second of the two campus attacks that claimed 33 lives to become the deadliest shooting rampage in modern U.S. history.
Though he did not explicitly say the student was also the gunman in the first shooting, he said he did not believe there was another shooter at large. Two hours after two people were killed at a dormitory Monday, 30 more people were killed at a campus building by a gunman who finally killed himself with a shot to his head. "We do know that he was an Asian male -- this is the second incident -- an Asian man who was a resident in one of our dormitories," university president Charles Steger said in an interview with CNN, confirming for the first time that the killer was a student. Steger also defended the university's delay in warning students after the first shooting. Some students said their first notice came in an e-mail at 9:26 a.m., after the second shooting had begun. Steger said the university was trying to notify students who were already on-campus, not those who were commuting in.
“We warned the students that we thought were immediately impacted,” he told CNN. “We felt that confining them to the classroom was how to keep them safest.” He said investigators did not know there was a shooter loose on campus in the interval between the two shootings because the first could have been a murder-suicide. Two students told NBC's "Today" show they were unaware of the dorm shooting when they reported to a German class where the gunman later opened fire. Derek O'Dell, his arm in a cast after being shot, described a shooter who fired away in "eerily silence" with "no specific target -- just taking out anybody he could." After the gunman left the room, students could hear him shooting other people down the hall. O'Dell said he and other students barricaded the door so the shooter couldn't get back in _ though he later tried. "After he couldn't get the door open he tried shooting it open... but the gunshots were blunted by the door," O'Dell said.
The slayings left people of this once-peaceful mountain town and the university at its heart praying for the victims, struggling to find order in a tragedy of such unspeakable horror it defies reason. President Bush and first lady Laura Bush were planning to attend a 2 p.m. convocation Tuesday, and people sought comfort Monday night at a church servide. One mourner pleaded "for parents near and far who wonder at a time like this, 'Is my child safe?'" That question promises to haunt Blacksburg long after Monday's attacks. Investigators offered no motive, and the gunman's name was not released. The shooting began about 7:15 a.m. on the fourth floor of West Ambler Johnston, a high-rise coed dormitory where two people died. Police were still investigating around 9:15 a.m., when a gunman wielding two handguns and carrying multiple clips of ammunition stormed Norris Hall, a classroom building a half-mile away on the other side of the 2,600-acre campus. At least 15 people were hurt in the second attack, some seriously. Many found themselves trapped after someone, apparently the shooter, chained and locked Norris Hall doors from the inside.
Students jumped from windows, and students and faculty carried away some of the wounded without waiting for ambulances to arrive. SWAT team members with helmets, flak jackets and assault rifles swarmed over the campus. A student used his cell-phone camera to record the sound of bullets echoing through a stone building. Inside Norris, the attack began with a thunderous sound from Room 206 -- "what sounded like an enormous hammer," said Alec Calhoun, a 20-year-old junior who was in a solid mechanics lecture in a classroom next door. Screams followed an instant later, and the banging continued. When students realized the sounds were gunshots, Calhoun said, he started flipping over desks to make hiding places. Others dashed to the windows of the second-floor classroom, kicking out the screens and jumping from the ledge of Room 204, he said. "I must've been the eighth or ninth person who jumped, and I think I was the last," said Calhoun, of Waynesboro, Va. He landed in a bush and ran.
Calhoun said that the two students behind him were shot, but that he believed they survived. Just before he climbed out the window, Calhoun said, he turned to look at his professor, who had stayed behind, apparently to prevent the gunman from opening the door. The instructor was killed, Calhoun said. Erin Sheehan, who was in the German class next door to Calhoun's class, told the student newspaper, the Collegiate Times, that she was one of only four of about two dozen people in the class to walk out of the room. The rest were dead or wounded, she said. She said the gunman "was just a normal-looking kid, Asian, but he had on a Boy Scout-type outfit. He wore a tan button-up vest, and this black vest, maybe it was for ammo or something." The gunman first shot the professor in the head and then fired on the class, another student, Trey Perkins, told The Washington Post. The gunman was about 19 years old and had a "very serious but very calm look on his face," he said. "Everyone hit the floor at that moment," said Perkins, 20, of Yorktown, Va., a sophomore studying mechanical engineering. "And the shots seemed like it lasted forever." At an evening news conference, Police Chief Wendell Flinchum refused to dismiss the possibility that a co-conspirator or second shooter was involved. He said police had interviewed a male who was a "person of interest" in the dorm shooting and who knew one of the victims, but he declined to give details. "I'm not saying there's a gunman on the loose," Flinchum said. Ballistics tests will help explain what happened, he said. Some students bitterly complained that the first e-mail warning arrived more than two hours after the first shots. "I think the university has blood on their hands because of their lack of action after the first incident," said Billy Bason, 18, who lives on the seventh floor of the dorm. Steger emphasized that the university closed off the dorm after the first attack and decided to rely on e-mail and other electronic means to spread the word, but said that with 11,000 people driving onto campus first thing in the morning, it was difficult to get the word out. He said that before the e-mail was sent, the university began telephoning resident advisers in the dorms and sent people to knock on doors. Students were warned to stay inside and away from the windows. "We can only make decisions based on the information you had at the time. You don't have hours to reflect on it," Steger said. The 9:26 e-mail had few details: "A shooting incident occurred at West Amber Johnston earlier this morning. Police are on the scene and are investigating." Until Monday, the deadliest shooting in modern U.S. history was in Killeen, Texas, in 1991, when George Hennard plowed his pickup truck into a Luby's Cafeteria and shot 23 people to death, then himself. The massacre Monday took place almost eight years to the day after the Columbine High bloodbath near Littleton, Colo. On April 20, 1999, two teenagers killed 12 fellow students and a teacher before taking their own lives. Previously, the deadliest campus shooting in U.S. history was a rampage that took place in 1966 at the University of Texas at Austin, where Charles Whitman climbed the clock tower and opened fire with a rifle from the 28th-floor observation deck. He killed 16 people before he was shot to death by police. Founded in 1872, Virginia Tech is nestled in southwestern Virginia, about 160 miles west of Richmond. With more than 25,000 full-time students, it has the state's largest full-time student population. The school is best known for its engineering school and its powerhouse Hokies football team. Police said there had been bomb threats on campus over the past two weeks but that they had not determined whether they were linked to the shootings. It was second time in less than a year that the campus was closed because of gunfire. Last August, the opening day of classes was canceled when an escaped jail inmate allegedly killed a hospital guard off campus and fled to the Tech area. A sheriff's deputy was killed just off campus. The accused gunman, William Morva, faces capital murder charges. Among the dead were professors Liviu Librescu and Kevin Granata, said Ishwar K. Puri, the head of the engineering science and mechanics department. Librescu, an Israeli, was born in Romania and was known internationally for his research in aeronautical engineering, Puri wrote in an e-mail to The Associated Press. Granata and his students researched muscle and reflex response and robotics. Puri called him one of the top five biomechanics researchers in the country working on movement dynamics in cerebral palsy. Also killed was Ryan Clark, a student from Martinez, Ga., who had several majors and carried a 4.0 grade-point average, said Vernon Collins, coroner in Columbia County, Ga. His friend Gregory Walton, a 25-year-old who graduated last year, said he feared the nightmare had just begun. "I knew when the number was so large that I would know at least one person on that list," said Walton, a banquet manager. "I don't want to look at that list. I don't want to. "It's just, it's going to be horrible, and it's going to get worse before it gets better."
Article for Research Project
"How did they think of that?" The journey of vegetarian foods from idea to store shelves
Vegetarian Journal, March-April, 2004 by Keryl Cryer
DO YOU EVER FIND YOURSELF WONDERING how all those great vegetarian food items got into your local market? No, not who put them physically on the shelves or in the freezer cases, but who had the initial idea for that soysage? Or how did that company get those veggie burgers to look so much like their beef counterparts? How could someone create soy ice cream that tastes better than most dairy versions?
Each of these items started out as someone's idea, but whose? Who comes up with the recipes? How does a company decide to manufacture the result as a product? How do they know people will like it enough to buy it? These are just some of the questions that come up during a food item's journey from idea to ideal product.
Who Thinks of These Foods, Anyway?
The first step in creating any new food product is for someone to come up with a concept for an item. Since everyone eats, almost anyone could have a brainstorm about what they'd like to see at their next meal. Take Seth Tibbott, for example. The founder of Turtle Island Foods, which makes Tofurky[TM] products, was a teacher-naturalist who brought children into the field to educate them about ecology. His environmental background inspired him to become a vegetarian in 1970, and he was always looking for good protein sources. He had read about grain tempehs in cookbooks, but he hadn't seen such products in the United States at the time. Seth began to experiment with making tempeh at home for his own consumption and developed three unique varieties--a soy tempeh, a five-grain tempeh, and tempehroni, which was similar to an herbed soy sausage. By 1980, Seth had perfected the recipes and introduced them as what he believes were the first grain tempehs in the American market.
Other ideas come from people who work specifically with food manufacturers. Craig Snow, who has been a vegan for 12 years, graduated from the University of Missouri with a degree in Food Science. He was developing vegetarian products for ConAgra, which makes Healthy Choice and Banquet items, when he came upon an opportunity at Worthington Foods. Craig became a Group Leader in the Product Development Division of the company, which was already distributing vegetarian products to mainstream supermarkets under the Morningstar Farms brand name. Kellogg's bought Worthington out in 1999, and Craig now heads a group that formulates ideas for both the Worthington and Morningstar Farms labels, as well as for the Loma Linda and Natural Touch product lines.
As part of a large corporation, Craig and his team often brainstorm ideas among themselves. Concepts also come from other areas, such as marketing, sales, research, and consumer information. Together, the departments look at food trends and what their competition is producing. for instance, Morningstar Farms' Homestyle Chili & Cornbread Pot Pies were meant as an appealing alternative to similar products containing meat, both because they are vegan and because they contain significantly less fat than traditional pot pies.
Smaller operations usually don't have the luxury of such a large staff, but that doesn't mean they can't come up with something just as great. Matt Koch, the Founder and President of Road's End Organics, Inc., had graduated from Duke University in Computer Science and Economics when he created a dairy-free, cheese-like sauce for pizzas, calzones, and steamed vegetables he made at home. He still experiments and uses his own taste buds to see if a food item could have potential.
"Now, we approach the creation of new products mostly in-house by being creative at lunch time," Matt said. "Although we do use a former Ben & Jerry's food technologist for some of our product development and more technical questions, our new vegan, organic, gluten-free gravy mix was stumbled upon in the factory. Our production manager was attempting to make some gravy for a noodle and seitan meal, when we realized that we had many of the ingredients and all of the same manufacturing capabilities that it would take to make a gravy mix under the Road's End label."
The Production Process
When Road's End decided to pursue their new gravy mixes, the staff began with a simple recipe, then worked to perfect it. "We quickly threw together a version with soy sauce, veggie broth, flour, nutritional yeast, garlic, salt, etc.," Matt said, "and after tasting it, we knew we were on to something ... but the product was still a long way off. The next step was replacing the soy sauce with a powdered version. After much searching we found an organic, gluten-free tamari powder for our mix that is delicious and 'clean.' We then tried many blends of yeast, herbs, and different flours, until we settled on ingredients that gave us the best flavor, color, and texture."
A company like Morningstar Farms works in a similar fashion but on a much grander scale. First, they make a consumer concept statement, which describes the product's features and lists the flavors and ingredients needed to create it. Then, Craig's team physically makes the food in the product development labs on a small scale. If the item works, they will proceed to a miniature version of a real plant called a pilot plant to see that the item can be manufactured in a way that can duplicate the taste and texture within the cost parameters.
Vegetarian Journal, March-April, 2004 by Keryl Cryer
DO YOU EVER FIND YOURSELF WONDERING how all those great vegetarian food items got into your local market? No, not who put them physically on the shelves or in the freezer cases, but who had the initial idea for that soysage? Or how did that company get those veggie burgers to look so much like their beef counterparts? How could someone create soy ice cream that tastes better than most dairy versions?
Each of these items started out as someone's idea, but whose? Who comes up with the recipes? How does a company decide to manufacture the result as a product? How do they know people will like it enough to buy it? These are just some of the questions that come up during a food item's journey from idea to ideal product.
Who Thinks of These Foods, Anyway?
The first step in creating any new food product is for someone to come up with a concept for an item. Since everyone eats, almost anyone could have a brainstorm about what they'd like to see at their next meal. Take Seth Tibbott, for example. The founder of Turtle Island Foods, which makes Tofurky[TM] products, was a teacher-naturalist who brought children into the field to educate them about ecology. His environmental background inspired him to become a vegetarian in 1970, and he was always looking for good protein sources. He had read about grain tempehs in cookbooks, but he hadn't seen such products in the United States at the time. Seth began to experiment with making tempeh at home for his own consumption and developed three unique varieties--a soy tempeh, a five-grain tempeh, and tempehroni, which was similar to an herbed soy sausage. By 1980, Seth had perfected the recipes and introduced them as what he believes were the first grain tempehs in the American market.
Other ideas come from people who work specifically with food manufacturers. Craig Snow, who has been a vegan for 12 years, graduated from the University of Missouri with a degree in Food Science. He was developing vegetarian products for ConAgra, which makes Healthy Choice and Banquet items, when he came upon an opportunity at Worthington Foods. Craig became a Group Leader in the Product Development Division of the company, which was already distributing vegetarian products to mainstream supermarkets under the Morningstar Farms brand name. Kellogg's bought Worthington out in 1999, and Craig now heads a group that formulates ideas for both the Worthington and Morningstar Farms labels, as well as for the Loma Linda and Natural Touch product lines.
As part of a large corporation, Craig and his team often brainstorm ideas among themselves. Concepts also come from other areas, such as marketing, sales, research, and consumer information. Together, the departments look at food trends and what their competition is producing. for instance, Morningstar Farms' Homestyle Chili & Cornbread Pot Pies were meant as an appealing alternative to similar products containing meat, both because they are vegan and because they contain significantly less fat than traditional pot pies.
Smaller operations usually don't have the luxury of such a large staff, but that doesn't mean they can't come up with something just as great. Matt Koch, the Founder and President of Road's End Organics, Inc., had graduated from Duke University in Computer Science and Economics when he created a dairy-free, cheese-like sauce for pizzas, calzones, and steamed vegetables he made at home. He still experiments and uses his own taste buds to see if a food item could have potential.
"Now, we approach the creation of new products mostly in-house by being creative at lunch time," Matt said. "Although we do use a former Ben & Jerry's food technologist for some of our product development and more technical questions, our new vegan, organic, gluten-free gravy mix was stumbled upon in the factory. Our production manager was attempting to make some gravy for a noodle and seitan meal, when we realized that we had many of the ingredients and all of the same manufacturing capabilities that it would take to make a gravy mix under the Road's End label."
The Production Process
When Road's End decided to pursue their new gravy mixes, the staff began with a simple recipe, then worked to perfect it. "We quickly threw together a version with soy sauce, veggie broth, flour, nutritional yeast, garlic, salt, etc.," Matt said, "and after tasting it, we knew we were on to something ... but the product was still a long way off. The next step was replacing the soy sauce with a powdered version. After much searching we found an organic, gluten-free tamari powder for our mix that is delicious and 'clean.' We then tried many blends of yeast, herbs, and different flours, until we settled on ingredients that gave us the best flavor, color, and texture."
A company like Morningstar Farms works in a similar fashion but on a much grander scale. First, they make a consumer concept statement, which describes the product's features and lists the flavors and ingredients needed to create it. Then, Craig's team physically makes the food in the product development labs on a small scale. If the item works, they will proceed to a miniature version of a real plant called a pilot plant to see that the item can be manufactured in a way that can duplicate the taste and texture within the cost parameters.
Monday, April 16, 2007
Monday, April 09, 2007
My 19th Birthday.
On Sunday, April 1st, 2007, I celebrated my 19th birthday by having an evening of singing at my Temple in South Ozone Park, Queens. Most of the preparations began Saturday night (March 31st) and lasted throughout the morning of April 1st. On Saturday night, my cousins and aunts came over to my house to help us prepare various food items for the celebration. My brother, along with three of my cousins and nephew, rehearsed a few songs to sing at the program. They ended up leaving my house at 11:45pm that night. The next day, I went to Temple in the morning for the service. The program began at 4pm and lasted until 8pm. There were many people there (around 300) and there were many talented musicians. Most of the items were presented by students and teachers my Music School. There were also a few items presented from members of Temple, and some family members.
In the end, my cousin brought a huge cake to the front where I was sitting and every one sang Happy Birthday to me. They also made me dance at the end of the program. Overall, it was a great evening.
Tuesday, March 27, 2007
Navratri.
Navratri is a Hindu Festival dedicated to the Motherly form of God. This period lasts for nine days and is celebrated twice a year, usually between the months of March-April and September-October.
During this time, Hindus around the world are encouraged to fast, not only by eating vegetarian foods but also by cleansing their minds from evil thoughts and not performing evil actions. Many temples have services each night in which the Motherly aspects of God are worshipped.
On the first three days of this auspicious period, Mother Durga, the Goddess of all power, is worshipped. On the second three days (days four-six), Mother Lakshmi, the Goddess of wealth and happiness, is worshipped. On the last set of three days (days seven-nine), Mother Sarasvati, the Goddess of knowledge, is worshipped.
During the services, puja, or worship is done to the Goddesses. Flowers and various items are offered and Hindus pray for a healthy and happy life. There are many bhajans (religious songs) that are sung and readings from the Holy scriptures. This celebration is one of the most important occasions that takes place for Hindus around the world.
Monday, March 19, 2007
Reflection.
Overall, I thought my paper was not that great. The main reason is because I had first wanted to write about the development of Indian music and how it has influenced my life. However, Professor Marsh said I should focus more on how music has influenced my life and how it connects to my life. Another reason is that I don’t think I spent as much time on this paper as I should have.
When we were asked to choose a topic, I thought this topic would be fairly easy and obviously very interesting to write about. However, while trying to find information and writing the actual paper, I realized that it was not that easy at all. Firstly, when trying to make a connection with something, it is essential to include personal experiences, but it is quite difficult to connect those experiences with information from other sources. For example, in this case, I made various connections of how music has influenced my life in order to help me become a better human being and also how I have served my community using my musical talents. When it came to making a connection between these ideas and my research, it was hard because the research did not go too much in depth. I think for a topic like this one, it comes more from inside the person rather than any written source, which is why I feel this paper was a bit tricky to write.
I used a statement, “[t]he classical music of India has its origin as a meditation tool to attain self-realization. All the different forms of these melodies (r[a]agas) affect various “chakras” (energy centers, or “moods”) in the path of the “Kundalini.” There are specific physical, mental, biological and spiritual results associated with activation of these centers.” Professor Marsh said I should have expanded more on how this happens, but like I mentioned earlier, it’s hard to explain. Another reason this topic was difficult is because the paper contained a few Indian words, which the audience probably didn’t understand.
I think my topic was a bit too personal and that’s why it was hard to focus on one main point and support it with enough details. I also found that I repeated some things throughout the paper. I think that I have learned a lot from writing this paper, mainly that even though I thought that this topic was simple to write about, it turned out to be the opposite. I think this report was a great idea because it helped me to realize that all writing requires an ongoing task of proofreading and editing.
When we were asked to choose a topic, I thought this topic would be fairly easy and obviously very interesting to write about. However, while trying to find information and writing the actual paper, I realized that it was not that easy at all. Firstly, when trying to make a connection with something, it is essential to include personal experiences, but it is quite difficult to connect those experiences with information from other sources. For example, in this case, I made various connections of how music has influenced my life in order to help me become a better human being and also how I have served my community using my musical talents. When it came to making a connection between these ideas and my research, it was hard because the research did not go too much in depth. I think for a topic like this one, it comes more from inside the person rather than any written source, which is why I feel this paper was a bit tricky to write.
I used a statement, “[t]he classical music of India has its origin as a meditation tool to attain self-realization. All the different forms of these melodies (r[a]agas) affect various “chakras” (energy centers, or “moods”) in the path of the “Kundalini.” There are specific physical, mental, biological and spiritual results associated with activation of these centers.” Professor Marsh said I should have expanded more on how this happens, but like I mentioned earlier, it’s hard to explain. Another reason this topic was difficult is because the paper contained a few Indian words, which the audience probably didn’t understand.
I think my topic was a bit too personal and that’s why it was hard to focus on one main point and support it with enough details. I also found that I repeated some things throughout the paper. I think that I have learned a lot from writing this paper, mainly that even though I thought that this topic was simple to write about, it turned out to be the opposite. I think this report was a great idea because it helped me to realize that all writing requires an ongoing task of proofreading and editing.
Sunday, March 11, 2007
In my Discover New York Class on Monday, February 26th, 2007, we had an Irish musician come in to speak to us. Each semester my professor, Dr. Heidi Upton, chooses a different culture for the class to study. Although we are supposed to be "discovering" New York, Dr. Upton is a musician, and so, she teaches how the people of that specific culture immigrated to New York and brought along their musical and cultural backgrounds as well. The Irish musician, Ben, spoke to us about why the Irish immigrated to New York City, and also various instruments they brought along with them. For example, we were introduced to the Bodhran, a handmade drum, and the Uillean Pipes, which is considered a God-like instrument because of its complexity to play. As a class, we were individually given a Bodhran which we all played for a while. Ben also showed us clips of a group that we will be going to see in concert on Saturday, March 24th. When it came to the dancing segment, Ben showed us movie clips of various people dancing, including the River Dance, and he even demonstrated his own talents for us. He is a "sean nos" (a traditional Irish dancer). Looking at Ben dance brought me back to my high school years, where one of my friends, Elizabeth Ong, was considered the "Irish Dancer" of our entire school. However, she sadly passed away last November.
Thursday, March 01, 2007
List of Sources.
References:
- Indian Classical Music: http://www.cosmopolis.ch/english/music/64/indian_classical_music.htm
- Indian Classical Music-Wikipedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Indian_classical_music
- Music of India-Wikipedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Music_of_India#Hindustani_music
- Awareness – The Center of Being:
http://www.self-realization.com/articles/intro.htm
The Influence That Music Has on My Life.
According to Ravi Shankar, an Indian musician who became the guru (spiritual guide) of George Harrison (lead guitarist for the Beatles) in the 1960’s, Indian classical music has “an unbroken history of development, and above all it is a living tradition that still is in the process of evolution (Indian Classical Music).” As a student of Indian music for ten years now, I can attest to this statement. Just as learning in general is a continuous process for everyone, the same idea applies to learning music. It is a process that takes many years of dedicated practice and devotion to master. I am now a teacher at the East Indian Music Academy in South Ozone Park, Queens. One thing I see that happens frequently is when parents register their child into the school to learn music, many of them believe the child will learn every thing over-night. As mentioned before, it takes time because learning, in all forms, is an incessant process and we can never know every single thing possible.
Indian music is rooted in the Vedas, one of the main scriptures of Hinduism. “Indian classical music has one of the most complicated and complete musical systems ever developed (Indian Classical Music-Wikipedia).” Similar to Western classical music, which has eight principal notes, Do Re Mi Fa So La Ti Do, Indian music also has eight major notes, Sa Re Ga Ma Pa Dha Ni Sa. Originally, all Indian music was sung in Sanskrit. “The two main traditions of classical music have been Carnatic music, found predominantly in the peninsular regions and Hindustani music, found in the northern and central parts. While both traditions claim Vedic origin, history indicates that the two traditions diverged from a common musical root since c. 13th century (Music of India-Wikipedia).” Hindustani music is based on the language of Hindi, while Carnatic music is based on the languages of Telegu and Tamil.
According to Wikipedia, “[t]he classical music of India has its origin as a meditation tool to attain self realization. All the different forms of these melodies (ra[a]gas) affect various “chakras” (energy centers, or “moods”) in the path of the “Kundalini.” There are specific physical, mental, biological and spiritual results associated with activation of these centers (Indian Classical Music-Wikipedia).” Classical music is the main component of Indian music. When listening or playing classical Indian music, the person becomes a changed human being. “The heart of Indian classical music - of both the Hindustani and the Carnatic system - is the ra[a]ga: the melodic form upon which the musician improvises and which may take hours to develop. The raaga framework is established by tradition and nurtured by the leading musicians of the past and present, composer and sitar player Ravi Shankar being one of them (Indian Classical Music).” A raaga is composed based upon many emotions, the time of day, and even the season.
Personally, I believe that by learning to play Indian instruments (the Harmonium and Sitar), singing, and also learning Hindi, I have been shaped into a better person. Indian music has influenced my life in many ways, such as enabling me to become closer to my religion and inspiring me to always want to learn more and more about my Indian culture and about the music of other cultures as well. Also, I would consider my music school as my second home. My music teacher, who is originally from Trinidad but obtained his Masters Degree in Music in India, along with his wife and two sons, are like my second parents and brothers. Any student that is a part of the East Indian Music Academy knows that these people are more than just teachers. Their simplicity is something that I admire very much. If ever I have a personal problem, I know for a fact that I can go to them for help.
I don’t consider myself as a great musician. I think it is important to give back what I learn to the community. As a teacher now, I look forward to sharing what I have learned with the younger kids and also adults. Think about it, we don’t live forever and in order to keep my religion alive and prosperous, I feel it is important to let the younger generations learn from an early age and help to improve the religious and musical beliefs.
Learning Indian music has numerous benefits. As I mentioned before, it has improved my whole life. During this process, I also met other students that would remain my life long friends, not only because we all have so much in common, but also because we can share our talents with one another. When playing an instrument, I feel very relaxed. For instance, if I am upset at someone or something, I go straight to my instruments and just start playing anything that comes to my mind. While doing this, it helps me to become much calmer. In a way, this technique doesn’t only help to release my stress, but I can also create new tunes and melodies based on what comes to my mind. Referring back to these raagas, playing classical music helps one to attain self-realization. Music brings me to another place, something which is difficult to explain. It helps me to grow spiritually and enables me to feel content with everything I have in my life.
I believe this concept is similar to that of yoga and meditation, where one can experience life based on another level. It is said that we cannot physically see God, but those of us who are religious, believe that there is some form of God. I think that by playing music and being devoted to my culture, I am able to become directly closer to God. According to the book, Awareness – The Center of Being, “...God can be proven: indirectly through circumstantial evidence and directly through personal experience.” I consider this statement true based upon my own experiences. This idea ties into the concept of faith, where people can become truly closer to God if they have steadfast commitment and devotion in their lives.
Indian music is rooted in the Vedas, one of the main scriptures of Hinduism. “Indian classical music has one of the most complicated and complete musical systems ever developed (Indian Classical Music-Wikipedia).” Similar to Western classical music, which has eight principal notes, Do Re Mi Fa So La Ti Do, Indian music also has eight major notes, Sa Re Ga Ma Pa Dha Ni Sa. Originally, all Indian music was sung in Sanskrit. “The two main traditions of classical music have been Carnatic music, found predominantly in the peninsular regions and Hindustani music, found in the northern and central parts. While both traditions claim Vedic origin, history indicates that the two traditions diverged from a common musical root since c. 13th century (Music of India-Wikipedia).” Hindustani music is based on the language of Hindi, while Carnatic music is based on the languages of Telegu and Tamil.
According to Wikipedia, “[t]he classical music of India has its origin as a meditation tool to attain self realization. All the different forms of these melodies (ra[a]gas) affect various “chakras” (energy centers, or “moods”) in the path of the “Kundalini.” There are specific physical, mental, biological and spiritual results associated with activation of these centers (Indian Classical Music-Wikipedia).” Classical music is the main component of Indian music. When listening or playing classical Indian music, the person becomes a changed human being. “The heart of Indian classical music - of both the Hindustani and the Carnatic system - is the ra[a]ga: the melodic form upon which the musician improvises and which may take hours to develop. The raaga framework is established by tradition and nurtured by the leading musicians of the past and present, composer and sitar player Ravi Shankar being one of them (Indian Classical Music).” A raaga is composed based upon many emotions, the time of day, and even the season.
Personally, I believe that by learning to play Indian instruments (the Harmonium and Sitar), singing, and also learning Hindi, I have been shaped into a better person. Indian music has influenced my life in many ways, such as enabling me to become closer to my religion and inspiring me to always want to learn more and more about my Indian culture and about the music of other cultures as well. Also, I would consider my music school as my second home. My music teacher, who is originally from Trinidad but obtained his Masters Degree in Music in India, along with his wife and two sons, are like my second parents and brothers. Any student that is a part of the East Indian Music Academy knows that these people are more than just teachers. Their simplicity is something that I admire very much. If ever I have a personal problem, I know for a fact that I can go to them for help.
I don’t consider myself as a great musician. I think it is important to give back what I learn to the community. As a teacher now, I look forward to sharing what I have learned with the younger kids and also adults. Think about it, we don’t live forever and in order to keep my religion alive and prosperous, I feel it is important to let the younger generations learn from an early age and help to improve the religious and musical beliefs.
Learning Indian music has numerous benefits. As I mentioned before, it has improved my whole life. During this process, I also met other students that would remain my life long friends, not only because we all have so much in common, but also because we can share our talents with one another. When playing an instrument, I feel very relaxed. For instance, if I am upset at someone or something, I go straight to my instruments and just start playing anything that comes to my mind. While doing this, it helps me to become much calmer. In a way, this technique doesn’t only help to release my stress, but I can also create new tunes and melodies based on what comes to my mind. Referring back to these raagas, playing classical music helps one to attain self-realization. Music brings me to another place, something which is difficult to explain. It helps me to grow spiritually and enables me to feel content with everything I have in my life.
I believe this concept is similar to that of yoga and meditation, where one can experience life based on another level. It is said that we cannot physically see God, but those of us who are religious, believe that there is some form of God. I think that by playing music and being devoted to my culture, I am able to become directly closer to God. According to the book, Awareness – The Center of Being, “...God can be proven: indirectly through circumstantial evidence and directly through personal experience.” I consider this statement true based upon my own experiences. This idea ties into the concept of faith, where people can become truly closer to God if they have steadfast commitment and devotion in their lives.
Monday, February 26, 2007
The Influence That Music Has On My Life. (Draft #2)
According to Ravi Shankar, who became the guru, or spiritual guide of George Harrison in the 1960’s, Indian classical music has “an unbroken history of development, and above all it is a living tradition that still is in the process of evolution.” (Indian Classical Music Website) Being a student of Indian music for ten years now, I can attest to this statement. Just as learning in general is a continuous process for everyone, the same idea applies to learning music. It is a process that takes many years of dedicated practice and devotion to master. I am now a teacher at the East Indian Music Academy in South Ozone Park, Queens. One thing I see that happens frequently is that when parents register their children into the school to learn music, many of them believe the child will learn every thing over-night. As mentioned before, it takes time because learning is an incessant process and no one can know every single thing.
Indian classical music has one of the most complicated and complete musical systems ever developed. Similar to Western classical music, which has eight basic notes, Do Re Mi Fa So La Ti Do, Indian music also has eight basic notes, Sa Re Ga Ma Pa Dha Ni Sa. Originally, all Indian music was sung in Sanskrit. But after the two systems divided, Hindustani music was centered around Hindi and its dialect Brajabhasha, while the Carnatic system was mainly influenced by Telegu as well as Kannadese and Tamil, creating two parts to Indian Classical music: Carnatic and Hindustani music.
According to Wikipedia, “the classical music of India has its origin as a meditation tool to attain self realization. All the different forms of these melodies (raagas) affect various “chakras” (energy centers, or “moods”) in the path of the “Kundalini.” There are specific physical, mental, biological and spiritual results associated with activation of these centers.” Classical music is the main component of Indian music. When listening or playing classical Indian music, the person becomes a changed human being. “The heart of Indian classical music - of both the Hindustani and the Carnatic system - is the raaga: the melodic form upon which the musician improvises and which may take hours to develop. The raaga framework is established by tradition and nurtured by the leading musicians of the past and present, composer and sitar player Ravi Shankar being one of them.” (Indian Classical Music Website) A raaga is composed based upon many emotions, the time of day, and even the season.
Personally, I believe that by learning to play Indian instruments (the Harmonium and Sitar), singing, and also learning Hindi, I have been shaped into a better person. Indian music has influenced my life in many ways, such as enabling me to become closer to my religion and inspiring me to always want to learn more and more about my Indian culture. Also, I would consider my music school as my second home. My music teacher, who is originally from Trinidad but obtained his Masters Degree in Music in India, along with his wife and two sons, are like my second parents and brothers. Any student that is a part of the East Indian Music Academy knows that these people are more than just teachers. Their simplicity is something that I admire very much. If ever I have a personal problem, I know for a fact that I can go to them for help.
I don’t consider myself as a great musician. I believe it is important to give back what I learn to the community. As a teacher now, I look forward to sharing what I have learned with the younger kids and also adults. Think about it, we don’t live forever and in order to keep my religion alive and prosperous, I believe it is important to let the younger generations learn from an early age and help to improve the religious and musical beliefs.
Learning Indian music has numerous benefits. As I mentioned before, it has improved my whole life. During this process, I also met other students that would remain my life long friends. When playing an instrument, it helps me to feel very relaxed. For instance, if I am upset at someone or something, I go straight to my instruments and just start playing anything that comes to my mind. While doing this, it helps me to become calmer. Referring back to these raagas, playing classical music helps one to attain self-realization. Music brings me to another place, something which is difficult to explain. It helps me to grow spiritually and enables me to feel content with everything I have in my life.
I believe this concept is similar to that of yoga and meditation, where the person can experience life based on another level. It is said that we cannot see God, but those of us who are religious, believe that there is some form of God. I think that through playing music and being devoted to my culture, I become directly closer to God. According to the book, Awareness – The Center of Being, “God can be proven: indirectly through circumstantial evidence and directly through personal experience.” I believe this statement is true based upon my own experiences. This idea ties into the concept of faith, where one can become truly closer to God if he or she has steadfast commitment and devotion.
Indian classical music has one of the most complicated and complete musical systems ever developed. Similar to Western classical music, which has eight basic notes, Do Re Mi Fa So La Ti Do, Indian music also has eight basic notes, Sa Re Ga Ma Pa Dha Ni Sa. Originally, all Indian music was sung in Sanskrit. But after the two systems divided, Hindustani music was centered around Hindi and its dialect Brajabhasha, while the Carnatic system was mainly influenced by Telegu as well as Kannadese and Tamil, creating two parts to Indian Classical music: Carnatic and Hindustani music.
According to Wikipedia, “the classical music of India has its origin as a meditation tool to attain self realization. All the different forms of these melodies (raagas) affect various “chakras” (energy centers, or “moods”) in the path of the “Kundalini.” There are specific physical, mental, biological and spiritual results associated with activation of these centers.” Classical music is the main component of Indian music. When listening or playing classical Indian music, the person becomes a changed human being. “The heart of Indian classical music - of both the Hindustani and the Carnatic system - is the raaga: the melodic form upon which the musician improvises and which may take hours to develop. The raaga framework is established by tradition and nurtured by the leading musicians of the past and present, composer and sitar player Ravi Shankar being one of them.” (Indian Classical Music Website) A raaga is composed based upon many emotions, the time of day, and even the season.
Personally, I believe that by learning to play Indian instruments (the Harmonium and Sitar), singing, and also learning Hindi, I have been shaped into a better person. Indian music has influenced my life in many ways, such as enabling me to become closer to my religion and inspiring me to always want to learn more and more about my Indian culture. Also, I would consider my music school as my second home. My music teacher, who is originally from Trinidad but obtained his Masters Degree in Music in India, along with his wife and two sons, are like my second parents and brothers. Any student that is a part of the East Indian Music Academy knows that these people are more than just teachers. Their simplicity is something that I admire very much. If ever I have a personal problem, I know for a fact that I can go to them for help.
I don’t consider myself as a great musician. I believe it is important to give back what I learn to the community. As a teacher now, I look forward to sharing what I have learned with the younger kids and also adults. Think about it, we don’t live forever and in order to keep my religion alive and prosperous, I believe it is important to let the younger generations learn from an early age and help to improve the religious and musical beliefs.
Learning Indian music has numerous benefits. As I mentioned before, it has improved my whole life. During this process, I also met other students that would remain my life long friends. When playing an instrument, it helps me to feel very relaxed. For instance, if I am upset at someone or something, I go straight to my instruments and just start playing anything that comes to my mind. While doing this, it helps me to become calmer. Referring back to these raagas, playing classical music helps one to attain self-realization. Music brings me to another place, something which is difficult to explain. It helps me to grow spiritually and enables me to feel content with everything I have in my life.
I believe this concept is similar to that of yoga and meditation, where the person can experience life based on another level. It is said that we cannot see God, but those of us who are religious, believe that there is some form of God. I think that through playing music and being devoted to my culture, I become directly closer to God. According to the book, Awareness – The Center of Being, “God can be proven: indirectly through circumstantial evidence and directly through personal experience.” I believe this statement is true based upon my own experiences. This idea ties into the concept of faith, where one can become truly closer to God if he or she has steadfast commitment and devotion.
Wednesday, February 21, 2007
Influence That Indian Music Has on Me.
Personally, I believe that by learning to play Indian instruments (the Harmonium and Sitar), singing, and also learning Hindi, has shaped me into a better person. Indian music has influenced my life in many ways, such as enabling me to become closer to my religion and inspiring me to always want to learn more and more about my Indian culture. Also, I would consider my music school as my second home. My music teacher, who is originally from Trinidad but obtained his Masters Degree in Music in India, along with his wife and two sons, are like my second parents and brothers. Any student that is a part of the East Indian Music Academy knows that these people are more than just teachers. Their simplicity is something that I admire very much. If ever I have a personal problem, I know for a fact that I can go to them for help.Learning Indian music has numerous benefits. As I mentioned before, it has improved my whole life. During this process, I also met other students that would remain my life long friends. I don’t consider myself as a great musician. I believe it is important to give back what I learn to the community. As a teacher now, I look forward to sharing what I have learned with the younger kids and also adults. Think about it, we don’t live forever and in order to keep my religion alive and prosperous, I believe it is important to let the younger generations learn from an early age and help to improve the religious and musical beliefs.
The Development of Indian Music and Its Influence on One’s Life. (Draft 1)
Music, a form of art, can be defined in various ways. According to the Webster Dictionary, music is defined as “the science or art of ordering tones or sounds in succession, in combination, and in temporal relationships to produce a composition having unity and continuity; vocal, instrumental, or mechanical sounds having rhythm, melody, or harmony.” Music can be used for entertainment, religious purposes, to keep someone’s mind off an issue that is bothering him or her, or it can even express a culture’s values and beliefs. The type of music that is part of a particular group of people can define who those people are and what they believe in.
When studying Indian music, it is quite difficult to trace back the exact origins of how it all began. The music of India includes multiple varieties of folk, popular, pop, and classical music, a very important type of music. The earliest texts of Indian music are the Natya Shastra, Dattilam, Brihaddeshi, and the Sangita-Ratnakara. The origins of Indian classical music can be found from the oldest of scriptures, which are part of the Hindu tradition, known as the Vedas. The Sama Veda, one of the four Vedas, describes music in great detail.
The classical music of India has its origin as a meditation tool to attain self realization. All the different forms of these melodies (raagas) affect various “chakras” (energy centers, or “moods”) in the path of the “Kundalini.” There are specific physical, mental, biological and spiritual results associated with activation of these centers.
According to the traditional teaching, sound is God (Nada Brahma). Through music, human consciousness can be elevated to a degree which allows one to understand the eternal essence of the universe. Indian classical music has “an unbroken history of development, and above all it is a living tradition that still is in the process of evolution,” says Ravi Shankar, who became the guru, or spiritual guide of George Harrison in the 1960’s. He also helped to shape the Western perception of Indian classical music.
India’s classical music tradition, which includes Carnatic and Hindustani music, has a history spanning millennia and, developed over several eras, remains fundamental to the lives of Indians today as sources of religious inspiration, cultural expression and pure entertainment. The Hindustani or North Indian style of music developed after the subcontinent was invaded by the Moguls from the 13th century onwards. In the Mogul empire, cultures derived from Persia and elsewhere merged with local traditions. The original music of India, with its intricate systems of raagas (melodies) and taalas (rhythms), continued uninterrupted and has become the Carnatic, or South Indian style, which is dominant in the areas that were never conquered by the Moguls. Whereas in the North, musicians from Persia and India influenced each other and experimented with each others instruments.
India is made up of several dozen ethnic groups, speaking their own languages and dialects. Alongside distinctly sub-continental forms there are major influences from Persian, Arabic and British music. Indian genres like filmi and bhangra have become popular throughout the United Kingdom, South and East Asia, and around the world. Indian pop stars now sell records in many countries, while world music fans listen to the roots music of India's diverse nations. American soul, rock and hip hop have also made a large impact, primarily on Indian pop and filmi music. Other popular forms of Indian music are ghazals, qawwalis, kirtans and bhajans (religious songs).
Indian classical music has one of the most complicated and complete musical systems ever developed. Similar to Western classical music, which has eight basic notes, Do Re Mi Fa So La Ti Do, Indian music also has eight basic notes, Sa Re Ga Ma Pa Dha Ni Sa. Originally, all Indian music was sung in Sanskrit. But after the two systems divided, Hindustani music was centered around Hindi and its dialect Brajabhasha, whereas the Carnatic system was mainly influenced by Telegu as well as Kannadese and Tamil.
Mastery in this musical art requires years of sincere, near-sacrificial devotion to its intricacies. Being a student of Indian music for ten years now, I can attest to this statement. Just as learning in general is a continuous process for everyone, the same idea applies to learning music. I am now a teacher at the East Indian Music Academy in South Ozone Park, Queens. One thing I see that happens frequently is that when parents register their children into the school to learn music, many of them believe the child will learn every thing over-night. As mentioned before, it takes time because learning is an incessant process and no one can know every single thing.
Personally, I believe that by learning to play Indian instruments (the Harmonium and Sitar), singing, and also learning Hindi, has shaped me into a better person. Indian music has influenced my life in many ways, such as enabling me to become closer to my religion and inspiring me to always want to learn more and more about my Indian culture. Also, I would consider my music school as my second home. My music teacher, who is originally from Trinidad but obtained his Masters Degree in Music in India, along with his wife and two sons, are like my second parents and brothers. Any student that is a part of the East Indian Music Academy knows that these people are more than just teachers. Their simplicity is something that I admire very much. If ever I have a personal problem, I know for a fact that I can go to them for help.
Learning Indian music has numerous benefits. As I mentioned before, it has improved my whole life. During this process, I also met other students that would remain my life long friends. I don’t consider myself as a great musician. I believe it is important to give back what I learn to the community. As a teacher now, I look forward to sharing what I have learned with the younger kids and also adults. Think about it, we don’t live forever and in order to keep my religion alive and prosperous, I believe it is important to let the younger generations learn from an early age and help to improve the religious and musical beliefs.
When studying Indian music, it is quite difficult to trace back the exact origins of how it all began. The music of India includes multiple varieties of folk, popular, pop, and classical music, a very important type of music. The earliest texts of Indian music are the Natya Shastra, Dattilam, Brihaddeshi, and the Sangita-Ratnakara. The origins of Indian classical music can be found from the oldest of scriptures, which are part of the Hindu tradition, known as the Vedas. The Sama Veda, one of the four Vedas, describes music in great detail.
The classical music of India has its origin as a meditation tool to attain self realization. All the different forms of these melodies (raagas) affect various “chakras” (energy centers, or “moods”) in the path of the “Kundalini.” There are specific physical, mental, biological and spiritual results associated with activation of these centers.
According to the traditional teaching, sound is God (Nada Brahma). Through music, human consciousness can be elevated to a degree which allows one to understand the eternal essence of the universe. Indian classical music has “an unbroken history of development, and above all it is a living tradition that still is in the process of evolution,” says Ravi Shankar, who became the guru, or spiritual guide of George Harrison in the 1960’s. He also helped to shape the Western perception of Indian classical music.
India’s classical music tradition, which includes Carnatic and Hindustani music, has a history spanning millennia and, developed over several eras, remains fundamental to the lives of Indians today as sources of religious inspiration, cultural expression and pure entertainment. The Hindustani or North Indian style of music developed after the subcontinent was invaded by the Moguls from the 13th century onwards. In the Mogul empire, cultures derived from Persia and elsewhere merged with local traditions. The original music of India, with its intricate systems of raagas (melodies) and taalas (rhythms), continued uninterrupted and has become the Carnatic, or South Indian style, which is dominant in the areas that were never conquered by the Moguls. Whereas in the North, musicians from Persia and India influenced each other and experimented with each others instruments.
India is made up of several dozen ethnic groups, speaking their own languages and dialects. Alongside distinctly sub-continental forms there are major influences from Persian, Arabic and British music. Indian genres like filmi and bhangra have become popular throughout the United Kingdom, South and East Asia, and around the world. Indian pop stars now sell records in many countries, while world music fans listen to the roots music of India's diverse nations. American soul, rock and hip hop have also made a large impact, primarily on Indian pop and filmi music. Other popular forms of Indian music are ghazals, qawwalis, kirtans and bhajans (religious songs).
Indian classical music has one of the most complicated and complete musical systems ever developed. Similar to Western classical music, which has eight basic notes, Do Re Mi Fa So La Ti Do, Indian music also has eight basic notes, Sa Re Ga Ma Pa Dha Ni Sa. Originally, all Indian music was sung in Sanskrit. But after the two systems divided, Hindustani music was centered around Hindi and its dialect Brajabhasha, whereas the Carnatic system was mainly influenced by Telegu as well as Kannadese and Tamil.
Mastery in this musical art requires years of sincere, near-sacrificial devotion to its intricacies. Being a student of Indian music for ten years now, I can attest to this statement. Just as learning in general is a continuous process for everyone, the same idea applies to learning music. I am now a teacher at the East Indian Music Academy in South Ozone Park, Queens. One thing I see that happens frequently is that when parents register their children into the school to learn music, many of them believe the child will learn every thing over-night. As mentioned before, it takes time because learning is an incessant process and no one can know every single thing.
Personally, I believe that by learning to play Indian instruments (the Harmonium and Sitar), singing, and also learning Hindi, has shaped me into a better person. Indian music has influenced my life in many ways, such as enabling me to become closer to my religion and inspiring me to always want to learn more and more about my Indian culture. Also, I would consider my music school as my second home. My music teacher, who is originally from Trinidad but obtained his Masters Degree in Music in India, along with his wife and two sons, are like my second parents and brothers. Any student that is a part of the East Indian Music Academy knows that these people are more than just teachers. Their simplicity is something that I admire very much. If ever I have a personal problem, I know for a fact that I can go to them for help.
Learning Indian music has numerous benefits. As I mentioned before, it has improved my whole life. During this process, I also met other students that would remain my life long friends. I don’t consider myself as a great musician. I believe it is important to give back what I learn to the community. As a teacher now, I look forward to sharing what I have learned with the younger kids and also adults. Think about it, we don’t live forever and in order to keep my religion alive and prosperous, I believe it is important to let the younger generations learn from an early age and help to improve the religious and musical beliefs.
Monday, February 19, 2007
Vegetarian....
Being a vegetarian for eight years now, many people constantly ask me if I regret becoming one. My answer is always No. I became a vegetarian in 1999. At first, it was very difficult. After all, who doesn't love those chicken nuggets and sandwiches from McDonald's?? However, over the years, you get used to it. I would have to say my form of chicken would probably be potatoes, whether is it baked, fried, mashed, etc. There are also many veggie products out there, like veggie shrimp, lamb, fish, tuna, chicken, and many more. Although they may not taste exactly the same, most of them are very similar. It also gives you an opportunity to try new recipes, for example, bbq veggie chicken legs. What I found amazing was that they put a stick in the chicken legs in replacement for a bone! I would have to say I primarily became a vegetarian because I took a deeper step as being a Hindu. In Hinduism, we believe that all living creatures should be treated equally, so why eat another animal? Another reason I became a vegetarian is because my boyfriend, being a Hindu priest, is one and they are supposed to follow the practice of Vegetarianism. And yes, Hindu priests can get married!! So, I don't think it's that bad after all. Yes, at times I do miss those chicken nuggets but it's okay. I think if I ever did start eating meat again, my body would reject it because it's so used to all those veggies now ; )
Intro. To P.A.
For my Intro. to Physician Assistant class, we were assigned into groups of ten and we had to choose two topics for our papers. For our first paper, my group decided to do it on Teen Pregnancy. You would think this is an issue that is fairly easy to write about. However, with ten people in the group, it was very difficult to find a time when every one could meet to work on the report which was four pages, but more like eight because it was to be single-spaced. This is because we all have classes at different times every day and most of us commute to school. However, we managed to make Tuesday nights our "meeting night." With only about three meetings, it was quite hard to actually work on this project. Nevertheless, we decided to break up the topic into subtopics and divide ourselves so that we could get more done at once. For example, my part was to write about the financial trends of teen pregnancy. Even though we would all attempt to get this part of the report done, we knew the more difficult part was yet to come: putting it all together so that it was readable as a report, and also the editing part. Most of us did our assigned work, except for one group member, who decided that she didn't feel like attending class and our meetings. At our last meeting, the Tuesday night before our paper was due (which was Thursday), we decided to call her. While most of us were waiting on campus all day just to kill time and not have to go home and come all the way back to school, this group member was HOME, just relaxing!Of course, we all got upset and decided we would have to stay very late in order to get all this work done, since she had to do the most important parts of the paper: the introduction and the social aspects of teen pregnancy. While we were working in the library, she emailed another member saying that if we go into a chat room with her, we can tell her what she should write about and she would send it to us the next day so we can include it in the paper. What would you do in this situation? Well, we did not go in any chat room with her and we stayed until 9:30pm working on the paper. Next, we had to get two articles and do a works cited page. The day that the paper was due, we were all emailing each other. One group member stayed up until 4am that morning putting the actual paper together, while I put together the works cited page and the other members found the two articles we would include in our report. In the end, all nine of us knew that we did not put our best effort into this project. Our next one is due on March 1st. and we hope to do much more work on that one. As for the girl, the professor will speak to her in our next class. Why should someone get credit for something he or she didn't help to do? One thing that our professor constantly repeats in class that I really believe is true, is that if we see someone cheating in this class in any way, we should tell him because when we are working with patients in the near future, we cannot cheat on their lives.
Wednesday, February 14, 2007
Valentine's Day!
What a great day for Valentine's Day, right? Why couldn't we have snow another day, like a day when I didn't have a Biostats test at 8am? The professor didn't even show up, but all of the students did and we had a substitute. I bet he was probably home..sleeping! As for the streets, they are horrible. You would think the main streets, like Hillside Avenue, Jamaica Avenue, or Lefferts Blvd. would be cleaned. But NO! On my way to school at 7am this morning and on my way back home at 10am, everyone was driving at like 20mph because the roads were nastyyyy! The cars were all sliding. I also have a Biology test at 7am tomorrow morning. I wonder how that will go, since everything is basically ice out there. For those of you who are home and can spend Valentine's Day with your loved ones, that's great! For the rest of us, I guess we have to celebrate on another day. Stay Warm!!
Sunday, February 11, 2007
Research Project.
At the Writing Center on Thursday, February 8th, my group had to interview one of the consultants. Her name is Marylinda Dewitt. She was very nice and welcoming to us. Usually, I am not the type of person that likes talking a lot, but I felt very comfortable around Marylinda. I began the interview by asking her how she would describe a "good" writer. Her response was that she believes every one is a good writer as long as they are brave and patient with themselves and the process of writing. One thing that I found very interesting was that when I asked Marylinda if she considers herself to be a good writer, she said no. When I asked her why, her response was that she doesn't think so because when she is writing, she tends to worry about her finished result rather than the process. Overall, I think this interview went very well. I learned many things, and I'm sure the other members of my group did as well. I also know that Marylinda learned some new things from us (AIM language...) On a more serious note, I think that during this interview, I was able to not only talk to Marylinda about writing and research tips, but also about life in general. I really enjoyed this research project and I look forward to visiting the Writing Center soon!
Thursday, February 08, 2007
"Be careful of your thoughts, for your thoughts become your words. Be careful of your words, for your words become your actions. Be careful of your actions, for your actions become your habits. Be careful of your habits, for your habits become your character. Be careful of your character, for your character becomes your destiny."
Virginia Hall
Posted by Jason Bellows on January 14th, 2007 at 10:46 am 
In the early 1940s, German secret police agents in Nazi-occupied France were on the lookout for a woman with a wooden leg. She was known only as "the woman with a limp," but the Gestapo's many wanted posters described her as "the most dangerous of all Allied spies," asserting that the Nazis "must find and destroy her." Her name was Virginia Hall.
She became a spy entirely by accident. She was studying abroad and working for the Ambulance Service in France when the Blitzkrieg struck, and she was suddenly in the middle of Vichy-controlled France. Despite having been turned away by the Foreign Service because of her handicap, Miss Hall was able to join the British Special Operations Executive and later the US Office of Strategic Services for her remarkable accomplishments.Born in Maryland of 1906, Virginia Hall was the youngest daughter of a wealthy shipping tycoon. Perhaps the setting of international travel paired with the privilege of her wealth imbued her with a strong sense of adventure. Over the years she attended all of the best schools and colleges, and set her sights on a career with the Foreign Service. However, in 1932 Virginia was hunting in Turkey and accidentally shot herself in the leg. The injury was so extensive that the surgeons were unable to save the damaged limb, and they were eventually forced to amputate at the knee. At only twenty-six years old, Virginia's choice of vocation abruptly closed to her.
Over the following few years, Hall continued her travels in Europe, studying and seeking a new niche. Eventually she settled in France where she worked as a highly over-qualified file clerk. When Nazi Germany invaded in 1940, Hall was trapped in hostile territory. She found herself with no capacity to help the situation, so she soon sneaked out of France. Upon making her way to Britain she volunteered for the newly-formed Special Operations Executive (SOE), an organization launched by Winston Churchill to make war in ways other than direct military engagement. Often referred to as the "Baker Street Irregulars," these spooks were charged to "set Europe ablaze" with tools like propaganda, economics, and spies. Therein Virginia was educated in the arts of weaponry, strategy, and covert operations. In 1941 she was returned to German-occupied France under the guise of a news reporter from the US–a viable cover story in the days before the US joined the war.
Where most agents were in the field an average of three months, Hall's first tour kept her operating in France for fifteen months. Allies routinely made supply drops by parachute–providing Hall with covert signals as to where–and it was her task to aid the French in retrieving them. The Resistance, being a largely untrained lot, also looked to Hall to coordinate tandem attacks. To evade capture, she went through several identities and code-names, working out of bars and restaurants. On one occasion, she used an asylum as a base of operations.
The Germans moved to consume all of France in 1942, and Virginia was forced to flee through the Pyrenees Mountains into Spain. Her prosthetic leg, which she had nicknamed "Cuthbert", began to cause her pain during the journey, slowing her progress. She reported to her superiors via radio that Cuthbert was being problematic. Either the recipients didn't understand the message, or in a rare display of macabre humor, the response was: "If Cuthbert troublesome, eliminate him."
Once she'd returned to London, Hall joined the American intelligence office, the Office of Strategic Services. The US spy organization immediately saw Hall's skill and reputation as too valuable to be forsaken, thus despite the Gestapo's flier campaign to capture her, Virginia was sent back into France in 1944. In the guise of an elderly peasant woman, Virginia worked with members of the French resistance to destroy bridges, sabotage German trains, engage in guerrilla warfare, and sow general chaos for the Nazis.
After Normandy, it was Hall who first radioed to Allied Command that the German General Staff was moving its headquarters from Lyon to Le Puy, which led to a turning point for the fighting in France.
After war's end there was a document waiting in a safe in London making Virginia Hall a member of the Order of the British Empire, but she never received it due to efforts to keep her identity secret. She was awarded the US Distinguished Service Cross by General William Joseph Donovan–the only one awarded to a woman in World War II. The sole guest to view the ceremony was Virginia's mother.
After marrying a fellow OSS agent in 1950, Virginia worked for the CIA until she retired. She lived on a farm in Maryland until she died in 1982. Hall's niece, also from Baltimore, said of her aunt: "She never wanted any recognition. I think she believed she was just doing her job. Even when she retired, she would talk about books and animals, but not about the incredible things she had done."
In the early 1940s, German secret police agents in Nazi-occupied France were on the lookout for a woman with a wooden leg. She was known only as "the woman with a limp," but the Gestapo's many wanted posters described her as "the most dangerous of all Allied spies," asserting that the Nazis "must find and destroy her." Her name was Virginia Hall.
She became a spy entirely by accident. She was studying abroad and working for the Ambulance Service in France when the Blitzkrieg struck, and she was suddenly in the middle of Vichy-controlled France. Despite having been turned away by the Foreign Service because of her handicap, Miss Hall was able to join the British Special Operations Executive and later the US Office of Strategic Services for her remarkable accomplishments.Born in Maryland of 1906, Virginia Hall was the youngest daughter of a wealthy shipping tycoon. Perhaps the setting of international travel paired with the privilege of her wealth imbued her with a strong sense of adventure. Over the years she attended all of the best schools and colleges, and set her sights on a career with the Foreign Service. However, in 1932 Virginia was hunting in Turkey and accidentally shot herself in the leg. The injury was so extensive that the surgeons were unable to save the damaged limb, and they were eventually forced to amputate at the knee. At only twenty-six years old, Virginia's choice of vocation abruptly closed to her.
Over the following few years, Hall continued her travels in Europe, studying and seeking a new niche. Eventually she settled in France where she worked as a highly over-qualified file clerk. When Nazi Germany invaded in 1940, Hall was trapped in hostile territory. She found herself with no capacity to help the situation, so she soon sneaked out of France. Upon making her way to Britain she volunteered for the newly-formed Special Operations Executive (SOE), an organization launched by Winston Churchill to make war in ways other than direct military engagement. Often referred to as the "Baker Street Irregulars," these spooks were charged to "set Europe ablaze" with tools like propaganda, economics, and spies. Therein Virginia was educated in the arts of weaponry, strategy, and covert operations. In 1941 she was returned to German-occupied France under the guise of a news reporter from the US–a viable cover story in the days before the US joined the war.
Where most agents were in the field an average of three months, Hall's first tour kept her operating in France for fifteen months. Allies routinely made supply drops by parachute–providing Hall with covert signals as to where–and it was her task to aid the French in retrieving them. The Resistance, being a largely untrained lot, also looked to Hall to coordinate tandem attacks. To evade capture, she went through several identities and code-names, working out of bars and restaurants. On one occasion, she used an asylum as a base of operations.
The Germans moved to consume all of France in 1942, and Virginia was forced to flee through the Pyrenees Mountains into Spain. Her prosthetic leg, which she had nicknamed "Cuthbert", began to cause her pain during the journey, slowing her progress. She reported to her superiors via radio that Cuthbert was being problematic. Either the recipients didn't understand the message, or in a rare display of macabre humor, the response was: "If Cuthbert troublesome, eliminate him."
Once she'd returned to London, Hall joined the American intelligence office, the Office of Strategic Services. The US spy organization immediately saw Hall's skill and reputation as too valuable to be forsaken, thus despite the Gestapo's flier campaign to capture her, Virginia was sent back into France in 1944. In the guise of an elderly peasant woman, Virginia worked with members of the French resistance to destroy bridges, sabotage German trains, engage in guerrilla warfare, and sow general chaos for the Nazis.
After Normandy, it was Hall who first radioed to Allied Command that the German General Staff was moving its headquarters from Lyon to Le Puy, which led to a turning point for the fighting in France.
After war's end there was a document waiting in a safe in London making Virginia Hall a member of the Order of the British Empire, but she never received it due to efforts to keep her identity secret. She was awarded the US Distinguished Service Cross by General William Joseph Donovan–the only one awarded to a woman in World War II. The sole guest to view the ceremony was Virginia's mother.
After marrying a fellow OSS agent in 1950, Virginia worked for the CIA until she retired. She lived on a farm in Maryland until she died in 1982. Hall's niece, also from Baltimore, said of her aunt: "She never wanted any recognition. I think she believed she was just doing her job. Even when she retired, she would talk about books and animals, but not about the incredible things she had done."
Wednesday, February 07, 2007
Boys..??
When I first started High School in 2002, I felt really strange because I went to an all girls Catholic High School. After changing from public school to Catholic school in the Seventh grade, I thought that transition was a major one, because I was introduced to new things like wearing uniforms and taking Religion classes. However, during the first few weeks when I started going to The Mary Louis Academy in Jamaica Estates, Queens, all of the freshmen girls were like, "Where are the guys??" Yes, we did have some male teachers, but there were no boys in our classes. Very weird!
In Sociology class during my Senior year of High School, we had to do a group project. My group decided to interview the different class years (Freshmen, Sophomores, Juniors, and Seniors) to find out things like what they thought about the uniforms, the school, rules, and having no boys in the classes. Most girls said that they felt strange at first (which was normal) but they gradually got used to the idea of "no boys." They said that with no boys in the classes, they felt that they would be able to concentrate more in class and pay more attention to the course work. They also said that they didn't have to wear make-up and look pretty to "impress" any guys (although some girls did do that to impress some of the male teachers!)
After four years of not really being around guys, when I started college, once again, I felt very strange. Beginning at Orientation, I asked myself, "Why are there guys here?" I guess this idea leads to one interpretation of the quote by John Dewey, "We get used to the chains we wear, and we miss them when removed." Since I was so use to not having guys around me, it feels very different now. Similarly, we get used to certain habits and when they are gone, we miss them.
In Sociology class during my Senior year of High School, we had to do a group project. My group decided to interview the different class years (Freshmen, Sophomores, Juniors, and Seniors) to find out things like what they thought about the uniforms, the school, rules, and having no boys in the classes. Most girls said that they felt strange at first (which was normal) but they gradually got used to the idea of "no boys." They said that with no boys in the classes, they felt that they would be able to concentrate more in class and pay more attention to the course work. They also said that they didn't have to wear make-up and look pretty to "impress" any guys (although some girls did do that to impress some of the male teachers!)
After four years of not really being around guys, when I started college, once again, I felt very strange. Beginning at Orientation, I asked myself, "Why are there guys here?" I guess this idea leads to one interpretation of the quote by John Dewey, "We get used to the chains we wear, and we miss them when removed." Since I was so use to not having guys around me, it feels very different now. Similarly, we get used to certain habits and when they are gone, we miss them.
Physician Assistant.
Within the next few years I hope to become a Physician Assistant. I became interested in the Physician Assistant Program around two years ago when I worked at my aunt’s medical office in Queens, NY over the summer of 2005. Before I worked in the medical office, I wanted to pursue a career in Social Work. However, I realized that social workers have to be very strict and firm sometimes and I don’t think I am that type of a person. After a few weeks of experiencing what it is like to be in a doctor’s office daily, I became very interested in the medical field.
My aunt is a Physician and her husband is a Physician Assistant. While working in the office, I was primarily a receptionist. However, I did have the opportunity of taking patients to their rooms, filling out patient charts and files, verifying their insurance, setting up appointments and also calling pharmacies to refill the patient’s medications.
I enjoy working with people, whether it is working with children, adults, or even the elderly. I am currently an Indian music teacher at the East Indian Music Academy, where I teach younger kids and adults to play Indian instruments and to sing. I personally believe that everyone should have a career where not only they love what they are doing, but it should also benefit others. For example, teachers help students, and doctors help their patients. Thinking beyond college, I think if I was to pursue a career as being a Physician, it would affect my family (children, etc.) in the years ahead. Therefore, I believe that I would like to be a Physician Assistant and I am willing to work hard in order to make this goal come true.
My aunt is a Physician and her husband is a Physician Assistant. While working in the office, I was primarily a receptionist. However, I did have the opportunity of taking patients to their rooms, filling out patient charts and files, verifying their insurance, setting up appointments and also calling pharmacies to refill the patient’s medications.
I enjoy working with people, whether it is working with children, adults, or even the elderly. I am currently an Indian music teacher at the East Indian Music Academy, where I teach younger kids and adults to play Indian instruments and to sing. I personally believe that everyone should have a career where not only they love what they are doing, but it should also benefit others. For example, teachers help students, and doctors help their patients. Thinking beyond college, I think if I was to pursue a career as being a Physician, it would affect my family (children, etc.) in the years ahead. Therefore, I believe that I would like to be a Physician Assistant and I am willing to work hard in order to make this goal come true.
Sunday, February 04, 2007
"FOOTPRINTS"
One night a man had a dream. He dreamed he was walking along the beach with the Lord.Scenes from his life flashed across the sky and he noticed two sets of footprints in the sand, one belonging to him and the other to the Lord.
When the last scene of his life had flashed before him, he recalled that at the lowest and saddest times of his life there was only one set of footprints.
Dismayed, he asked, "Lord, you said that once I decided to follow you, you'd walk with me all the way. I don't understand why, when I needed you most, you would leave me."
The Lord replied, "My precious child. I love you and I would never leave you.
During your times of trial and suffering, when you saw only one set of footprints...
That was when I carried you."
Friends (Quote)
I think this quote is very true because from experience I know that when we are happy and everything is going well, the ones we call our "friends" are also rejoicing with us. However, when something goes wrong, they act as though they do not know us. Only our true friends are there to comfort us in times of pain and sorrow. Personally for the past few months when I have been going through a time of sadness, there is only one person I can call my "true" friend, who I will tell everything to and go to for advice. I think we all should choose our friends very wisely and make sure they are ones we will trust forever. 
Wednesday, January 31, 2007
What Does The "Vision Quest" Metaphor Mean To You?
I think the "vision quest" metaphor means going on a journey in which we can reflect upon our past experiences and incorporate it in our writing. We can also explore new ideas in order to develop new skills that will help us in the future. Like the book states, "All writing is a kind of research - or search - that begins with what you know and takes you to places that you haven't been before." I think that by going on this "vision quest" in this class, we can help and encourage each other so that we will all benefit and learn something new that we will most likely keep with us forever.
Thursday, January 25, 2007
What's Your Name?
My name is Padmini. The origin of my name is Indian. Padmini means a Lotus Flower. In Hinduism, usually when a baby is born, the family calls the priest so that he can check the astrological book to find a suitable name for the child. They usually find this name using the date and time of birth. Most of the time, the priest would tell the parents two or three different ways the baby's name can begin with, based on the astrological findings. For example, they can tell the parents that the child's name should start with either Ma, Mi, or Me. The parents can then choose any name that starts with one of those three letters, like the name, Mandy. My last name is Persaud, which was passed down from my father's side of the family. It is a name that is part of the Brahmin (priest) sect, or highest category of the Caste System in India.
Wednesday, January 24, 2007
Writing Space.
Question #17. When writing for school assignments, where do you prefer to do your work: in the library? at home? sitting down? lounging on a couch or bed? in a cafe or study hall?
When writing assignments, I prefer to do my work at home, most of the time in my room. I think it's hard to concentrate when there are other people talking or just around me. However, a lot of times, I listen to a CD or watch a show or movie on television while I am writing down my thoughts. I usually like outline what I will be writing about before writing the whole composition. I also like to proofread my work many times before handing it in. Sometimes I would let someone else read it over for me.
Tuesday, January 23, 2007
Welcome Message.
- Hello! My name is Padmini Karen Persaud. I am a student at St. John's University, College of Pharmacy and Allied Health. I hope to become a Physician Assistant in the future. I live in Richmond Hill, Queens, NY. I am Guyanese. I was born on April 1st, 1988.
- I sing and play the Harmonium and Sitar, which are Indian instruments. I am also an Indian Music teacher at the East Indian Music Academy in South Ozone Park, Queens. During the summer of 2005, I worked at a Doctor's Office in Queens, where I was a receptionist and I also helped to verify insurance for patients, take them to the rooms, set up appointments and refill their prescriptions by calling the pharmacies.
- I enjoy reading, writing, singing, dancing, and helping people in any way I can. I also love working with children.
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