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Immigrant Interview

My subject for the immigrant interview is a 53 year old female from Monrovia, Liberia in West Africa. She came to the United States illegally on a plane when she was 15 years old and has been in the country since. Since this time, she has become a law abiding citizen and managed to be here for so long without being documented by renewing her work authorization. A work authorization is what is given to non US Citizens when they work for the state. My subject has been working for the state since she was 27 years old and has renewed her work authorization since. She also has children who were born here in the United States and married a U.S. citizen. She decided to come to America when one of her older sisters received a visa to come as well. Her mother encouraged them to go even though her mother could not go with them. Her older sister decided to bring her with her for better opportunities. She received her permanent status just 6 years ago and once she received her U.S. passport, the first thing she did was go back to Liberia to have a proper funeral for her mother. Her mother died back in 2008 and she went back in 2017 to bury her. She is currently building a house in Monrovia for her children to visit her homeland.

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The Biography of a Chocolate Bar

1. What are the ingredients?

The ingredients are as follows: milk chocolate (sugar, cocoa butter, skim milk, chocolate, lactose, milkfat, soy lecithin, artificial flavor), corn syrup, sugar, hydrogenated palm kernel oil and/or palm oil, skim milk, less than 2%- milk fat, cocoa powder processed with alkali, malted barley, lactose, salt, egg whites, and artificial flavor.

2. Where do the ingredients come from?

The Milky Way bar was created in 1918 by Frank C. Mars and originally manufactured in Minneapolis, Minnesota. My specific bar was distributed by Mars Wrigley Confectionery US, LLC.

3. How are the ingredients produced?

The ingredients are partially produced with genetic engineering. This allows scientists to move desired genes from one plant or animal into another. The process to create genetically engineered foods is different than selective breeding. This involves selecting plants or animals with desired traits and breeding them.

4. What are the working conditions of the people who produce the cocoa?

There a many factors that make it a dangerous work place. Some of the dangerous factors are:pesticides, forced labor, lack of formal contracts, trafficking, and incredibly low pay. Children can often be seen working at the cocoa farms. Children who work on cocoa plantations are exposed to hazards such as dangerous tools, dust, flames or smoke, chemicals, and/or physically demanding labor such as carrying heavy loads or spending many hours in the sun. Cocoa trees are grown on small, independent farms of fewer than 5 hectares.

5. How do the producers get the cocoa to the market?

After the harvest, the ripe pods need to be cut open with machetes and the beans are taken out. The cocoa beans then need to be fermented, dried, cleaned and packed. When the beans are packed into cocoa sacks, the farmers are ready to sell the product to intermediaries.

6. How are the prices set?

The prices are set according to how much chocolate is being produced. This ultimately tells us that limited cocoa supply means higher chocolate prices. Chocolate makers use two components of cocoa to produce chocolate: cocoa powder and cocoa butter. Cocoa butter is by far the more desirable of the two since it creates the richer chocolates and is used in thin chocolate confectionery treats, but it is also the harder and more expensive to produce so any disruption in cocoa supply will eventually trickle down and drive consumer prices higher. Africa – primarily the Ivory Coast and Ghana – is the largest global producer of cocoa, supplying just north of 70% of the world’s cocoa. Supply fluctuations are a result of a number of factors, from political and civil unrest to labor issues and the effect of weather, diseases, and pests on crop yields. For example, long periods of dry weather are not conducive to cocoa bean growth, resulting in supply shortages.

7. Which international corporations dominate the chocolate trade?

The Hershey chocolate company controls nearly 44 percent of the U.S. chocolate market, followed by Mars with a 30 percent share. However, the bestselling chocolate candy brand in the United States are M&M’s, a Mars brand. In 2017, sales of M&M’s amounted to 688.7 million U.S. dollars. Hershey’s chocolate came in second place with 383.3 million dollars in sales. The candy company Mars controls a 14.4 percent share of the global chocolate market, making it the largest chocolate company in the world. Mars is famous for such chocolate candy brands as M&M’s, Snickers, and Twix to name a few.

8. Who regulates the trade?

In the United States, chocolate is regulated by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA).

9. How is chocolate marketed?

To market chocolate in the most successful way, you must create a rich and luxurious image for the product. It usually has gold packaging and has a look that is different from all of the competitors. Also, organic products are becoming more and more popular, so making chocolate to appease this type of consumer is a newer marketing technique. In order for a chocolate to be organic, it must be approved by the USDA and some companies then go on to get certified organic by other more strict organization. Sugar free chocolate appeals to those who have diabetes or anyone who wants to reduce their sugar intake. Finally, there is marketing towards children, in which companies make a product that is fun with packaging that has bright colors.

10. Where did you buy your chocolate bar?

I bought my chocolate bar from Walgreens.

11. How much profit does a store owner make on one chocolate bar?

The store owner makes $2.37 on one chocolate bar.

12. Are there hidden costs that are not included in the price you paid?

There are hidden fees for child labor and slavery, ingesting lead, large-scale deforestation for palm oil, results in fractured ecosystems, species extinction, and climate change ultimately force many native people from their land. As aresult, cheap, artificial, and unhealthy ingredients are used to keep price low so consumers buy more.

Biography.  

Chocolate production starts with harvesting cocoa manually in the forested lands which requires human labor, resulting in large-scale deforestation driving species from their natural habitat resulting extinction, as well as rapidly altering climatic regimes. Often times children are put to work by enslavement under abusive or hazardous conditions for little pay which barley is enough to sustain living conditions. Workers collect seed pods of cocoa and placed in piles, the pods are then taken for processing to a local establishment where they will be split open and the cocoa beans are removed. These cocoa beans will then be shipped to the manufacturer for mass production where they will then be roasted and broken down into nibs, the nibs will then need to be ground up to make cocoa liquor and mixed with cocoa butter and sugar along with powdered whole milk under low heat. The blend will then be further refined and blended adding desired ingredients and allows to cool and harden into the desired shape to be packaged. Once processing complete it will then be distributed internationally and marketed at a reasonable price due to the use of cheap, artificial, unhealthy ingredients to produce the final product. The products are then bought by humans, and pleasurably consumed with no awareness of the hidden cost which took to produce these addictive mouthwatering delectable substance enjoyed by most American and European population.

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News Media Cover Social Class and Inequality

http://uregina.ca/~gingrich/s28f99.htm

Analysis of class divisions and struggles is especially important in developing an understanding of the nature of capitalism. For Marx, classes are defined and structured by the relations concerning work and labour, ownership or possession of property, and the means of production. These economic factors more fully govern social relationships in capitalism than they did in earlier societies. This story shows while earlier societies contained various strata or groupings which might be considered classes, these may have been strata or elites that were not based solely on economic factors.

http://www.brooklynsoc.org/courses/43.1/weber.html

Weber's treatment of class and status indicates the manner in which the material basis of society is related to the ideological. Social conflict can result from one or the other, or both. Social action is motivated by both, though in some cases more one than the other. By bringing in status, Weber provides a more flexible view of the details of social differences, and their implications for the lived experience of social actors. In order to fully understand Weber's perspective on stratification, this story helps you to be familiar with a few general concepts: power, domination, and communal and societal action.

http://routledgesoc.com/category/profile-tags/cultural-capital

Bourdieu’s concept of cultural capital refers to the collection of symbolic elements such as skills, tastes, posture, clothing, mannerisms, material belongings, credentials, etc. that one acquires through being part of a particular social class. Bourdieu also points out that cultural capital is a major source of social inequality. Certain forms of cultural capital are valued over others, and can help or hinder one’s social mobility just as much as income or wealth. This story shows how, according to Bourdieu, cultural capital comes in three forms: embodied, objectified, and institutionalized. One’s accent or dialect is an example of embodied cultural capital, while a luxury car or record collection are examples of cultural capital in its objectified state. In its institutionalized form, cultural capital refers to credentials and qualifications such as degrees or titles that symbolize cultural competence and authority.

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Cartoon Commercials and the Construction of Gender

Adventure academy - This was a commercial directed towards children of any gender. It showcased an online program that contains a curriculum for academic achievement. The technique they used was catering to their audience which are children. The program had bright colors, animals, and presented learning math, science, language arts, and social studies in a fun way.

Pluto tv - This was a commercial that was not directed toward children at all. It showcased a channel system to a samsung tv as the product.

Sabrina the doll - This was a commercial for a remote sized doll named Sabrina. It was definitely aimed at girls and the technique that was used in this ad to attract girls is the colors of the doll’s clothes. It was pink and had flowers and hearts in blue on them. The commercial taught gendered behavior because it only had girls in the ad while dressed in pink skirts.

Paramount plus - This commercial was for a platform for watching movies produced by the company paramount. This commercial was directed towards children at all or gender.

The sharksons - This commercial was directed towards both girls and boys. It showcased a new show that just aired on nickelodeon junior channel about a family of sharks. The commercial teaches gendered behavior because it demonstrates the stereotypical gender roles. The mommy shark cooked dinner and took care of the baby shark and kid sharks. The daddy shark went to work and ran errands. The boy sharks were blue and the girl sharks were pink.

These commercials has shown me that we actively create gender roles.

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Nuclear Family Kinship Chart

I am the only child by my mother and father. My parents both have children from previous relationships. I added the half-siblings that I either lived with or grew up seeing often. My family is really extended. My family tree pointed out to me how it may seem like I am the only child but at the same time I am not.

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My relationship with Ethnicity and Nationalism

My father was born and raised in this country. He is from Newark, New Jersey and has lived there but most of his 63 years of living. My mother on the other hand was born and raised in Monrovia, Liberia which is located in West Africa. She came to this country when she was 16 illegally and used renewed work authorizations to stay in the country. At 53 years old, she just received her permanent citizenship about 6 years ago. My mother has been living in this country since and has embraced American nationalism to an extent. My mother has had to adjust to America’s customs to be able to receive permanent status. My mother had to demonstrate how she has been a law abiding citizen of America and what she does to contribute to society. My mother still practices her home country’s traditions and identifies with her own ethnic identity. This has affected my personal view of ethnicity and nationalism because of the influence my mother has on my life, my nationality is American but my ethnicity is West African.

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6 Key Concepts about Race or Racism

1) Ethnic cleansing - Ethnic cleansing, the attempt to create ethnically homogeneous geographic areas through the deportation or forcible displacement of persons belonging to particular ethnic groups. On May 14, 1948, the State of Israel was created, sparking the first Arab-Israeli War. The war ended in 1949 with Israel's victory, but 750,000 Palestinians were displaced and the territory was divided into 3 parts: the State of Israel, the West Bank (of the Jordan River), and the Gaza Strip. Between 1947 and 1949, over 400 Palestinian villages were deliberately destroyed, civilians were massacred and around a million men, women, and children were expelled from their homes at gunpoint. The creation of Israel caused conflict because Jewish people moved into the Muslim land. The Palestinians living in Israel dislike Israeli rule. Around the early 1990s, Israel agreed to give Palestinians control of an area called the Gaza strip and the town of Jericho.

2) Citizenship - Citizenship is the relationship between an individual and a state to which the individual owes allegiance and in turn is entitled to its protection. Citizenship implies the status of freedom with accompanying responsibilities. Citizens have certain rights, duties, and responsibilities that are denied or only partially extended to aliens and other noncitizens residing in a country. In general, full political rights, including the right to vote and to hold public office, are predicated upon citizenship. The usual responsibilities of citizenship are allegiance, taxation, and military service.

3) Genocide - The United Nations Genocide Convention defines genocide as an internationally recognised crime where acts are committed with the intent to destroy, in whole or in part, a national, ethnical, racial, or religious group. These include killing members of a group, causing serious bodily or mental harm to the members of a group, deliberately inflicting of life calculated to bring about its physical destruction in whole or in part, imposing measures to prevent birth within a group or forcibly transferring children of a group to some other group.The most extreme extermination campaign against a people was the Holocaust or the genocidal `Final Solution' ordered by Adolf Hitlerduring the holocaust, before or at the latest by autumn 1941 and continuing into May 1945. Reliable estimates of the number of Jews killed range from 5.1 to 6 million. In addition, the Nazis routinely killed three million Soviet prisoners of war, two million Poles and 400,000 other 'undesirables'.

4) Assimilation - Assimilation is the process whereby individuals or groups of differing ethnic heritage are absorbed into the dominant culture of a society. The process of assimilating involves taking on the traits of the dominant culture to such a degree that the assimilating group becomes socially indistinguishable from other members of the society. As such, assimilation is the most extreme form of acculturation. Although assimilation may be compelled through force or undertaken voluntarily, it is rare for a minority group to replace its previous cultural practices completely; religion, food preferences, proxemics, and aesthetics are among the characteristics that tend to be most resistant to change. An example of this is  the physical distance between people in a given social situation.

5) Diaspora - A diaspora is a large group of people with a similar heritage or homeland who have since moved out to places all over the world. It is the dispersion or spreading of something that was originally localized (as a people or language or culture). Diaspora describes people who have left their home country, usually involuntarily to foreign countries around the world. Examples of these communities include the removal of Jewish people from Judea, the removal of Africans through slavery, and most recently the migration, exile, and refugees of Syrians. The image shows the removal of Africans through slavery.

6) Nationality - Nationality is the status of belonging to a particular nation by birth or naturalization. A person's nationality is where they are a legal citizen, usually in the country where they were born and raised. People from Mexico have Mexican nationality, and people from Australia have Australian nationality. People of the same nationality usually share traditions and customs, and they might look a little alike, too. Nationality is one of many qualities that bring people together.

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1) I personally counted only nine men that were logged into class that day and 36 of the participants on the zoom call were women. Only about three men spoke or posted comments in the class while there was a combination of about sixteen women that some or posted comments. Women definitely spoke more than the men which is expected since the class consists of way more women anyway.

2) On average people took three to five minutes to speak but only used an average of six words in the written comment area.

3) Since mostly everyone keeps their camera off for most of the class time, I couldn't see a bunch of body language and eye contact but I noticed that the style of speaking from the women and men were experience based reponses. Both the men and women responded to questions asked by the professor with the answer along with added personal background on why they gave that answer.

4) More women keep their cameras on than men. I only saw one man’s face on the zoom call and I saw a total of only four women who put their cameras on.

5) The instructor of the course is a woman and she always encourages communication within the class. She does this by keeping her camera on while speaking/teaching and then also chooses people that she has not heard from at all during class to speak. She presents to the class like she would if it was face to face instruction and makes the learning space very intimate. She is energetic and attentive to the students in class. She also checks to make sure she answers all of our questions.

6) I do not think the instructor’s gender influences the way they interact with class. I have taken classes with male professors and gender is not a factor. I believe that the only thing that affects an instructor’s interaction and influence within a class is their passion to teach.

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 The image above is a map of the Boys and Girls Club Metropolitan Baltimore - Webster Kendrick. I noticed it two weeks ago on a wall in a closet I have never been in. I needed to go in the closet to pull out chairs and tables for the kids that attend the club. I stumbled across it while looking around in the closet.

 I noticed multiple ways to exit the building in the case of an emergency that I have not seen since I started the job.

Nothing in particular was absent. I did not expect anything missing because it was my first time seeing the emergency evacuation plan .

 The club was impacted by COVID-19 in a significant way. Membership for the club has reduced tremendously due the restrictions. As a result, only a certain amount of people are allowed in the building at once. The amount of staff and children already meets that requirement meaning parents have to wait outside the door to pick up their children.

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This assignment has taught me things about myself. It focused on the things that I take for granted every day. My use of everything shows me how convenient these small gadgets make life and how easy it is start thinking you need these things. I caught myself a few times putting a need for an item that was not technically a necessity. These objects make processes faster and better, but it is not a necessity.

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In 1930, there were three passionate, independent cranberry growers who found the key to expanding the superfruit's success: a single cranberry-growing family. By coming together in one cooperative, Marcus Urann, John Makepeace and Elizabeth Lee worked together to create deliciously innovative products with the fruit they loved. Elizabeth Lee is a New Jersey cranberry grower, while John Makepeace took over the cranberry growing business. Marcus Urann was a lawyer who left his profession to buy and operate a cranberry bog.Once the three founders banded together and launched their first product - Jellied Cranberry Sauce - it grew fast. Growers from Wisconsin, Washington and Oregon quickly joined the cooperative, and within its first decade, Ocean Spray became the first producer of cranberry juice drinks. Their products were hitting store shelves from coast to coast, and as more years passed, more and more products were created. Their first manufacturing bog is located in Lakeville, Massachusetts. Cranberry juice has been given to me even as a child from my mother to improve the condition of the bladder/urinary tract and reproductive system. These health aid properties in the juice were offered from my doctors as well.

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Zodiac Signs and their PokeSquad! ❄️⚡️🔥 

Written by Zodiac Society || thezodiacsociety.com