A Space for Truth and Reflection

Maybe one day this will be something but it is probably just an empty blog thing

[kid-seeking-an-outlet]

The day of Judgement

Finally I have found bitter lemon soda in the USA. After visiting europe and consuming the Schweppes variant and loving it, I have found a year and a half later after multiple times researching why Schweppes and Canada Dry don’t sell it here and importing some on amazon for way to much money. Now I journey to Total Wine with my mother, and we test Polar. ONWARDS!

[kid-seeking-an-outlet]

The Jungle by Upton Sinclair

Over the past few days I have read the beginning of The Jungle by Upton Sinclair as part of a independent reading for AP Lang. Now The Jungle as a highly controversial novel and an expose into the horrors of the Chicago Meat packing industry, is not an easy topic to discuss and explain to a family member or friend. As a result, I am going to explain the things that have come through my mind as I have read the first 9 chapters of the novel, due to my need to put my thoughts and opinion on the novel out somewhere. The first thing i have to comment on, is the the amazing description of such terrible events, that one can really feel. The best example of this is the death of Antanas, as Sinclair describes the horrible effects of his job in the cold, damp pickling houses and his wasting away to a skeleton, who constantly coughs blood until his body finally gives out. This coupled with the vivid descriptions of horrible conditions such as the 3 inch pool of blood coating the floor giving off a foul stench and slipping up the workers. Theses terrible conditions undermine the transformation of our main character Jurgis and his growing realization of the world he has entered. Beginning his arrival as an immigrant with the family of his future wife and his father Antanas, he believes America is a place where he can gain his fortune, but as the chapters progress, he begins to see the lies that constitute the ads he sees plastered around the slums of packingtown. This growth caused by his increasing experience and his own experiences of getting swindled, when he fails to realize the interest on the dwelling they purchase, in the end do nothing as he and his family can barely get by huddling around one small stove as the gales of winter blow outside. This increase in knowledge exposes the real villain of the novel, the corruption and terrible working conditions and products propagated by the plant bosses. Bosses as the packinghouses subject their workers to minimal wage for hours of constant hard labor with little breaks and conditions that lead many men to their deaths in as little as a year. This is coupled with the terrible lies they spread to consumers through bogus products and safety. While the plants do have inspectors, they are merely figures to create a supposed sense of safety as they are there to check the meat, however they are merely payed off by the local government and packinghouses which combines to lead mass corruption which allows the continued exploitation of poor immigrants and consumers. This brings to the forefront the lies the packing companies tell consumers. They talk of safety despite the fact that thousands of consumers and military men die of diseased meat due to the addition of unborn calves, horrible chemicals of which include Potassium Nitrate which is used to clean teeth and as an oxidizer for rockets., diseased cows with tuberculosis and others fed on horrible diets leading to defects, dirt and grime from the floors mixed in to get every bit of meat, disgusting bits of cow including tripe which is its second stomach as cow’s are ruminants. These masterfully combined by Sinclair combine to form a vivid, horrifying picture of the corruption and conditions of the Chicago meatpacking industry. This book is incredible so far but there is one more thing to bring up. THIS ACTUALLY HAPPENED. I can go on google maps and see these former boundaries of the packing industry and it then really hits you. These terrible things you read about aren’t fiction or based on a true story, they are the truth. These conditions, corruption, and death were the reality for these people and expose the importance of the novel, not only does the vivid description give it literary credit, but also its role in exposing the atrocities to the american public and inspiring action. 

If anyone read all of this, Thank You for reading my rant. I just needed somewhere to let this out.

Goodnight

[kid-seeking-an-outlet]

Reflection on a camp with no friends

Do you ever go somewhere and find yourself having no friends there, but continue to return there for a few years having not noticed this fact until you reflect on your experiences a few years later? To me, a person’s ability to understand the depth of an experience only come later after the experience has been put behind them and it becomes an intriguing afterthought. For me it was a sleep away camp that I attended for four years. When I decided to not return for a 5th year I believed it was because I had a problem with a few kids and I was homesick. But only know a few years later I realize it was because I had nothing to come back to every summer at the camp. Sure the activities were fun and the counselors nice, but people came back each year to see friends of which I had only one. He and the other friend that I saw on a daily basis were my only true friends there as in the ones I would hang out with, but as time went on they talked with other people and did other things while I was alone reading a book or a like activity. This realization I had opened me to an understanding that can only be achieved later and with greater maturity. I am able know to see what I didn’t realize in the moment that I was experiencing. And while I do have many great memories from that camp and especially knowing Josh that one friend I returned to see, when I look at these memories, I know consider my reason for leaving and its progression year after year at that camp.

Thank you.

[railwayhistorical]

Just East of Elkhorn, Nebraska

Here is an eastbound train, on the original route of first transcontinental railroad, running along side an original section of the Lincoln Highway.

Two images by Richard Koenig; taken June 20th 2018.

[kid-seeking-an-outlet]

These are just cool