Speaking of Hooters...

So a friend of mine on Instagram checked in to Hooters today, and she posted this picture of a sign inside the restaurant.

 It clearly shows the different treatment of males and women, relating to their bodies.

O'Hara's in Westwood--Just Like Hooters?

Hey guys,

I came across this video that has to do with the Burger and Boobs group's presentation. Basically, a female bartender at O'Hara's, the local bar in Westwood, is suing the bar for the inappropriate dress code, fans that would blow the female's skirts and expose them, and other policies in the bar. The reporter says that the O'Hara's policies were established to boost sales.

I think this shows another example about how the industry caters to men, allowing not only to consume food and drinks but also their bodies--to make money. Sex sells. Also, I felt that the example of Hooters feels far removed from UCLA and the students here. However, it's clear that the objectification of women can hit very close to home.

http://www.cnn.com/video/data/2.0/video/us/2012/06/27/dnt-bartender-sues-over-skimpy-skirts.kcal.html

The Art of Consumption :)

http://www.naturalnews.com/038092_hot_chocolate_superfood_health_benefits.html

This article further expands on the health benefits of Chocolate. However, the main reason I was 

drawn to this article for was due to the wording that the author chose to use throughout the whole article. 

The wording was sensual or very lofty and praising chocolate as divine and godlike. It is praising 

addiction to chocolate as a sign taht your body knows when something is "good". "The Heavenly Elixir"

title for one of the sections also further emphasizes the use of chocolate as a link to the divine. 

Also, the recipe sounds absolutely delicious. 

The Impossible Decision

I came across this article in The New Yorker about going to graduate school for English or Comparative Literature, and it immediately reminded me of Duncan, Fischer and Trevor in The Edible Woman and the class, because we are taking Comparative Literature -although only at the undergraduate level.

In short, the author, Joshua Rothman, starts by writing about how graduate school is a "bad idea in the long run." He does this very interestingly by quoting a hedge fund friend who responded with the following statistics when asked if postgraduate studies in English or Comparative Literature is worth it:

"... focus on the “base rates”: that is, on the numbers that give you a broad statistical picture of outcomes from graduate school in the humanities. What percentage of graduate students end up with tenure? (About one in four.) How much more unhappy are graduate students than other people? (About fifty-four per cent of graduate students report feeling so depressed they have “a hard time functioning,” as opposed to ten per cent of the general population.) If you take a broader view of the profession, it seems like a terrible idea to go to graduate school." 


The "depression and hard time functioning" part of his spiel here really reminded me of Duncan and his rant about how things in graduate school get "more and more stale" and how he could not write more than a sentence a day (102).

Although it might seem as if one should be completely put off by the idea of attending graduate school in the humanities here and that Duncan is right, Rothman also brings forth the upsides of attending graduate school based on his own experience, which needless to say, is as, if not more, compelling than the cons of attending.

Granted, the article is not directly related to the theme and content of the class, but I still found it quite an intriguing, lighthearted and somewhat ironic read and thought it worth sharing, especially after seeing the minute connection to The Edible Woman. 

P.S. Approach the article with a pinch or two (or even three) of salt and don't use it to analyze your own situation or let it deter you from applying!

P.P.S. I do not think it is a "terrible idea to go to graduate school" at all.

The Girl in the Picture

Source: http://digitaljournal.com/img/6/8/7/0/1/4/i/1/1/6/o/Kim_Phuc.jpg

Source: http://alivewithwords.files.wordpress.com/2011/05/viet.jpg

As I read Yocandra in the Paradise of Nada, I could not help but draw parallels to Denise Chong's The Girl In The Picture, which I read a couple of years ago. Chong chronicled the life of Kim Phuc -the girl in that iconic photograph of the Vietnam War- during and after the war. Many aspects of Phuc's life and those of the Vietnamese at the time resembles those of the Cubans in Valdes' work. Among the many striking similarities I found in the two books were the lack of food under militant rule, confiscation of funds earned by individuals (Phuc and the Traitor's) and property (seen in Havana: The New Art of Making Ruins) by their respective governments as well as a yearning to leave their homelands. 

So as to not spoil too much of the book, I will cut straight to the end where we learn that Phuc successfully managed to seek political asylum in Canada -much like how many Cubans did in the United States. However, this was only after she was sent to the University of Havana -Fidel's alma mater- to study as part of an agreement between like-minded Vietnam and Cuba at the time. Phuc spoke quite fondly of her experience on the island, in that, a substantial chunk of the book is dedicated to her time in Havana, which I personally find to be interesting, as I was able to also see Cuba through a foreigner's eyes.

All in all, I highly recommend this book if you have not read it, as it sheds light on how similar life was like under military dictatorship on the opposite side of the globe and reminds us that we are not so different after all.    

Yoani Sanchez- Generation Y

A few quarters back, I had to read a couple of excerpts from Yoani's blog. She's a blogger from Havana. She talks about the current situation in Cuba, and deals with the topics of censorship, propoganda, rationing, etc.



Some excerpts:

"I often complain about this self-sufficient little fatty  in every Cuban home — the television — and its excessive influence on our lives. This week, for example, the nightly programming has been saturated with political messages that we later hear repeated in schools, workplaces, offices… in the infinite spiral of ideological propaganda"

"“The chocolate is over!” screamed my two friends, as I opened the door that night of July 31, 2006. They were alluding, with their improvised slogan, to the latest plan pushed by Fidel Castro to distribute a chocolate quota to every Cuban through the ration market."

It's super interesting! Check it out if you have time!

http://www.desdecuba.com/generationy/