Poverty, racism, violence @ the greasy spoon
354268
This film won many awards at various festivals throughout the world so I thought I'd view it. Besides, I like movies from Argentina. The universal theme of immigration is the underlying driving force of this stark , gripping , at times revolting movie. A young man from Uruguay and young woman from Paraguay come to Argentina(not knowing each other) and end up working together in the local grill. Several other characters are brought into the story , by way of location, you know, hanging out at the restaurant. All have one thing in common, they are poor and barely able to make ends meet. One guy eats off his extended restaurant credit. The racism that exists is portrayed as anyone of color is treated second class and insulted outright. Freddy, the man from Uruguay, is berated by everyone , including his benevolent(he advances his pay for a phone call) boss, Don Enrique.  Rosa, the foreign  waitress, isn't treated much better, has a passive aggressive personality, hangs her head and looks like a a beaten dog. The black and white imagery, dialogues that take place primarily in one room, makes for a dismal, depressing storyline. The occasional use of South American folk music breaks the tedium. You know the storyline is going down a dark alley of no return. The movie is short, coming in at slightly more than one hour but maybe that is all it takes to convey the message of the movie. If more people understood that immigration, coupled with poverty, is a story of survival than maybe Americans would be more tolerant. Check it out, the message is universal. The movie comes with subtitles for non-Spanish speaking viewers.
4684605
Small Great Things is the latest book from author Jodi Picoult.  In her latest book she covers the topic of racism and how it affects different groups of people.  I debated with myself on whether I wanted to cover this book on Writers Corner.  Synopsis:
Ruth Jefferson an African American has been a nurse for over twenty years.  She has worked in the Labor and Delivery ward in a small hospital in New York.  She has one sister Adisa who is lives in the ghetto and gets by on benefits and minimum wage jobs.  Her answer to everything is to turn to her prejudices for solutions to her problems.  One day while Ruth is at work she is assigned to a couple with a baby. The father asks her to not touch their baby and has her removed from the case.  The father Turk is a white supremacist and does not want anything to do with African Americans.  When his baby dies he wants to blame someone for his death.  So Ruth is promptly arrested and charged with the crime.  Is she really guilty?  Enter Kennedy McQuarry public defender who takes on Ruths case.  Does she really understand what this case is about?
My Thoughts:
I feel that this book is well written.  Ms. Picoult does a great job of covering all the different viewpoints, in this hot topic.  I remember seeing her in Atlanta while she was on tour discussing this book.  She interviewed a skinhead to get an idea for how to write the character of Turk.  The story is set in New York.
I have always operated from the perspective that everything is not always obvious to everyone.  This often annoys my family.  Would it be accurate to say that when taught to hate via circumstances; our views are colored by what we see?  The past cannot be changed but the future can.  Do two wrongs make a right?  I will leave with this parting thought.  16 We know what real love is because Jesus gave up his life for us. So we also ought to give up our lives for our brothers and sisters. 1 John 3:16 (Bible gateway)
4703540
Really people! Nazi crap is for sale. Very nice. Racism profits I see. This is sick!
1643527
Very true reflection of the society that is Africa in the main. South Africa is also in that path. Being one of the  most unequal countries it is only a matter of time if this "Eating" is not stopped.
2075113
This book is probably not worth your time.  The author delves deep into the minuate of everyday yuppie life with reckless abandon, and it is sickening....more so than the violence.  If you want to see people being  tortured and dismembered, check out the Texas Chainsaw Massacre, at least  its original.
4152773
Kimmel gives a great overview of the rage that emanates from middle class white men. His term aggrieved entitlement is a great prism to view the current political and social environment. Good read!
4641455
The book is basically about this grad student who tries to study the sociological effects of poor African-American communities. His original plan was to go around interviewing people and asking them questions like "How does it make you feel knowing that you're poor?" and such. By whatever chances, the first person he randomly encounters is a gang leader, and the gang leader goes, "You can't learn about people just by asking them questions. That does nothing. You have to hang out with them. Actually spend time with them and see what it's like living their life." So he starts hanging around the neighborhood and talking to the people, and somehow ends up basically being part of the community. Some of the stories he tells literally feel like it came out of one of those Hollywood movies about gangsters. Women "turning tricks" to feed and clothe the kids, intricate political systems within the crime-infested community, corrupt police forces, high school kids dropping out to join gangs, people who aspire to do more than sell drugs.

This is definitely a good read, even for people who aren't interested in sociology. For me, I almost felt like I was living in the shoes of the author and experiencing these gang stories with him. At best, it'll inspire you to take action and do something to help communities like the one described in the book. At worst, it'll make you think about the drastic difference in lifestyles of people in America and give you more appreciation for your own situations.
3770642
Wow, I didn't know how bad things became for Todd...I think the racism is what started all the problems unfortunately, mainly from the policeman.  Overall, a good read!
4826089
During the enlightment of the Trayvon Martin murder case July (2013), I was compelled to read this book to see what the fuss was about.  A local school in the state of Georgia assigned this book to be read as a class assignment.  However, one set of parents contested it to be a mandatory reading because of the profanity language found within.  They were not requesting to remove it but to remove it as being mandatory in other words let it be a choice if a student chooses to read it for class credit. In this incident the student was 12 years of age.

We live in a white cultural society in America with history of men, women and children being removed from their homeland and entreated into slavery to serve those who considered themselves as "white masters". These people were shipped from Africa and treated harshly as human beings.  Latinos government sent many of their people to America seeking a new way of life, however, that way was of some abuse from the same masters.

The author has captured some truth of what it is like to be in poverty and have to work to eat.  The effect of what slavery is to the African American community is also felt among the Latinos.

It appears as though the white Americans want to keep this movement under covered from their children, children's children and all generations as to the truth of the insanity structured on another person of different culture of life.

It is a teaching of civil rights, love, kindness, ignorance, and treachery to name a few which is still alive today, although the first three are in danger of being slaughtered.  The Latino community suffered such as the African American community but not as great.  It is history that should be exposed.  There are many Latinos that contributed to new discovery that added to life for accomplishing living and receive no recognition.  It should be noted that America is no longer white due to its own choices but of many cultures that was offered a better way but wanting to colonize once again without struggles or interference of the different.

The book is a good read and exposure to truth of a neighbor's possible life of horrors.  Demonstrations revolve around courage and sincerity to be dignified with respect. The minor profanity was just that, minor. It could be the 12 year olds will make America a better place if the truth is not hid.

I recommend the book and pray it is not removed but allow it to be a choice out of curiosity.  The earth is meant to swallow the wicked, the locust will devour prior to the swallowing. Many more lessons to learn.

Lady O'deda
Atlanta, Ga.
2654300
Most everyone will find something to hate in Eric Schlosser's book, and perhaps a fair number will find a lot to hate about the author himself (he is very left wing, and he is long at pointing fingers and short on providing viable alternatives).  'Fast Food Nation' was a bit of a surprise.  I expected a lot McDonalds bashing, plus depressing reading on how unhealthy junk food really is.  And yes, Eric Schlosser does deliver these messages very clearly.  But fortunately he has a lot more to say.
'Fast Food Nation' is a seemingly endless hate-a-rama by Eric Schlosser.  Fortunately, what he hates is really bad stuff: abused animals, abused meatpackers, abused employees of money hungry corportate giants, abused consumers, etc.  Some of his observations, seemingly well-researched, are most shocking and horrific.  He doesn't blast so much the fast food companies as much as he blasts the terrible social costs incurred by them.  And he is mercilous to the (seemingly all Republican) politicians who collude with these companies (and their suppliers).  The best I can say about 'Fast Food Nation' is that I learned a lot.  Yes, probably much of it is biased and unfair journalism.  But sadly most of it is undoubtedly true.
Bottom line: mandatory and uncomfortable reading.
4855900
The author did an excellent job presenting the tools (intimidation, murder, the legislative process, etc.) White racists have used to suppress people of color. Sadly the strategies used in the past are still being used today. We must learn from the past so that we can stop the systematic racism that is destroying the lives of our fellow citizens and our future.
4840583
Fiona and Adelina have hit a bases loaded home run!  Adelino, I am so sorry that humanity can treat others so badly.  Your days incarcerated, cold, hungry and with your hands and feet hurting so bad, brought tears to my eyes.  What a horrible injustice.
If you do not know anything about East African history, particularly Mozambique, this book will show the "Havoc" that occured at this time in Africa between two factions.
This is a book makes you get a map out to see where these stories take place.  You find that you want to read over at least once again.
Art Gonzalez
933770
This documentary is one of the most disturbing I've ever seen.  It is truly sad that so many people have to live in such violence, and fall victim to it.  The Narco music culture is not only disturbing but strange; you have a bunch of men dressed in Mexican cowboy garb, with AK-47's on the back.  The fact that the perpetrators of the violence look so much like everyday people is the reason why it's perplexing to see a bunch of men wearing cowboy costumes talking about chopping up bodies.  Glorifying deviant subcultures is nothing new, but the level of gruesome violence and the happy tone of the music is an example of extreme sociopathy at it's worst.
573835
So much pain and denial of self was the order of the day. Light reading, yet engaging. Often bought tears to my eyes, the utter cruelty, and superiority of whites.
God's got something for every racist soul.
3140937
See, in the crazed mind of the out-of-control, held-together-with-string, neurotic liberal, the entire world is foaming at the mouth with racist diatribes.  People in LA are constantly spouting racist hate words at each other.  This is simply not reality.  This is the wierd core liberal fantasy - that we all racistly hate eachother allatime and just want to get down to some serious helter-skelter straightaway.  This fantasy is so compelling for the liberal that one cannot help but see it as a crude wish fulfillment: this is the way Haggis thinks, so he thinks that everybody thinks the same way.  And, to dramatize this, he comes up with completely implausible scenarios, like the one where the "Persian" (NOT ARAB, MIND YOU!) store owner's store is vandalized by hate-mongers who spray-paint "raghead" all over the place and generally wreck the already-unrecognizeable merchandise.  (If anyone can tell me what that store was supposed to be selling, please post!  The merchandise completely heterogenous, generic and nameless.) Now, things like this simply don't really happen in LA, where I am from.  I grew up in LA.  I lived there for about twenty five years.  The place is simply not a racist powderkeg ready to explode.  But, in the mind of Haggis, it is... because most likely Haggis' own mind is just such a powderkeg.
Also, Haggis seems to put racist slurs into action within the movie.  There is a scene where a Chinese woman motorist accuses the hispanic (race, race, race!) motorist she rear-ended of "blaking in middoo of stleet!"  Keep in mind: this is what the character ACTUALLY SAID.  Now, I have several Chinese-born immigrant friends.  And so I think I can say with some assurance that Chinese people do not talk in this stereotyped way.  For the simple reason that in Chinese there IS AN R SOUND!  It is Japanese that lacks the R sound, and instead has a sound similar to the Italian R, using the tip of the tongue.  So, Chinese people do not have trouble with the R sound.  Only racist stereotypes like Haggis' Chinese character do.  You know what the movie reminds me of?  A very special episode of Curb Your Enthusiasm, with many different racist characters in the Larry David role.  It could be called Curb Your Foaming Racism.
However, the movie does entertain, because one laughs at how bad it really is.  My favorite scene was where Matt Dillon's (great actor, wasted here) cop character, who rather unprofessionally felt up a black woman in a previous scene, encounters the same black woman trapped in a car that is just about to burst into flames, as all cars do in Hollywood.  He begins to try to free her, but when she sees who he is she freaks, screaming, "Don't touch me!".  He then explains that he must touch her in order to save her from a fiery death.  She grudgingly assents.  Then follows a scene where he is inadvertently gropinng her in the process of freeing her from her seatbelt.  Sheer hilarity.  It would have been all the better if he was saying things like, "Ma'am, I'm gonna have to stick my thumb up your r*ctum in order to free you."  "Uhh, OK"  "And Ma'am, I'm gonna have to fondle your m@mmaries.  It's all part of the freeing process, you unnerstand."  "Uhh, OK I guess..."  I loved it.
2631200
The kind of food that causes prison riots.
481275
This book will not be an easy read. Not because it is written in a difficult to understand manner, but because the lives spoken of haven't been easy. So, if you get squeamish easy, then this book isn't for you. This book is about the world and how it is, how it always was  how racism is so deep-rooted that it might take ages before it is wiped out completely. And yet, this book does not only deal with the issue of racism or schizoaffective disorder, it deals with identity and the basic right to live, which should not be taken away from anyone at all.

Patrisse Khan-Cullors life has not been an easy one at all. Being sheltered and fed wasn't easy while she was growing up. As I have mentioned, her brother who suffers from schizoaffective disorder and a mother who works from dawn to dusk, just to ensure the kids are fed and clothed.

What upsets me the most is the involvement of the police when it comes to mental health organizations when it comes to checks or emergencies. I mean how would they know what it means to be mentally unstable and what one goes through? But that is just one part of the story.

The crux of the book is what it means to be black in todays world and how unjustifiable racial profiling and police brutality causes havoc in peoples lives. Patrisse outraged the most in 2013, when Travyon Martins killer went free, which led to the formation of Black Lives Matter with Alicia Garza and Opal Tometi.

Khan-Cullors and Asha Bandele give you insights into how it is to survive in the face of violent racism. We think nothing is going on, that we live in evolved times, but that is all well and good in the comfort of our homes. What happens in the world is simply horrific.

When They Call You A Terrorist hits hard (like it should) and will make you think twice about how sometimes we behave when it comes to people who are different from us. This is a book that is most needed for our times. The situations and people will always remain the same, till an entire culture changes, the one that says Black Lives Matter.