Reaction to Salt, Sugar, Fat

Over my first semester in college I started reading a book called Salt, Sugar, and Fat: How the Food Giants Hooked Us by Michael Moss. During my first semester I was very open to the book and I wondered what it would be about. Overall I really like it because Michael Moss tells us that Salt, Sugar, Fat because he tells us the truths about these three things. These three things are in our daily foods we eat and consume every day from what Moss tells us in his book. Moss tells us that Salt is bad because we could get high blood pressure and that could then lead to heart problems and ultimately it can cause death. When you think about it. It all starts to make more sense and you start to pick up what Moss is implying or trying to tell us when it comes to Salt. Throughout the whole book there has been many things that has surprised me from fat in milk to the many tea spoons in sugar that is contained in a can of sugar. All of these three things are in our foods and they are not there in a lightly portion they are there in mass dosages. This is because high dosages are used to mask the real product, to give it a better taste or to let us know that it is healthy when it really isn’t. Michael Moss’s book made me realize that fast food and Salt, Sugar, and Fat are ingredients that are used to manipulate us into eating more products that contain more of these things. Thanks to this book it made me realize that I should watch how I eat more often and make sure my foods have low sugar, fat, and salt. This book made mea realize that the food industry will do anything just so they can get more money out of us and most of them just care about their products and not us.

The Meaning of Family

Family… Such a powerful word to me. This week I will be talking about the meaning of family to me. Feel free to comment your opinions in the comment section. To me family is very important. I consider people who are really close to me family because I rather have a big family than have nobody. Growing up I wasn’t introduced much to my family. Most of the family from my mom’s side is in Mexico, and I wasn’t really introduced much to my dad’s family. As I got older I’ve met so many people, friends, mentors, and some I considered family because of a connection that we shared during the time we met each other. Family is something special to me because I have many different families but in the end I actually have a really big family that will never be forgotten and always will be remembered dearly to me. During high school years we experience many things. For me this is true but one thing I don’t forget is that during high school you acquire family. Since I played for the Hueneme Boys’ Basketball team and the Volleyball team I considered my teammates as a separate family aside from my family I actually have. This was during my freshman year so I had gained two families just from sports. Best friends and the people who we hang out clearly mean so much to us as well. During high school especially as a freshman you slowly learn you your to go people are. After a while it feels like a small family because you see them every day and you will notice when someone from the group isn’t there. Best friends will be there and that is automatically a family to me because they are there when you need them. During my Junior and Senior Year in high school I joined the Hueneme High School ASB, this was the second biggest family that I have gained during my high school years because we have to work together and stress out together planning events and making sure it all goes well as well as satisfying the student body. Even though it was stressful it was fun and we never got tired of each other and it felt like we were a big family after a couple months. I was happy that I gained such a big family. The biggest family that I have acquired was throughout all my four years of high school until graduation. Class of 2014 is the biggest family that I have gained, all four years we have been together in school trying to work for our graduation and to me I consider that as a big family. Family to me means so much because it truly is something that we shouldn’t take for granted. I appreciate the family that I have even though it’s small but throughput the years my family has grown and I have gained many different people and I can’t wait for the future people who will be considered as a family to me. I am blessed to have family and am glad I have family. What are your ideas or opinions in family? Feel free to drop a comment. Until next time my fiends… I mean until next time fam, this is Jose Renteria signing out. 

Materialism: Is it taking over the Holidays?

Materialism in the holidays is a big debate between so many people because it can be very debatable. At the end of Chapter 5 in the “America Now” 2013 issue, two student essays are written. Both of them are about the topic of materialism in the holidays. Amer Saleh thinks that the holiday season is entirely driven by materialism while Lauren Smith thinks it is no way to materialistic and that it is just part of old traditions. Both of these students have good points. In my opinion, I think that the holiday season isn't all about materialism, but it can get materialistic with people trying to buy expensive presents to their loved ones. I both disagree and agree with the two student writers in their viewpoints about the holiday season and materialism. I think that the holiday season is not about materialism but it can be if we make it that way. For example, if we have more money then of course we are going to buy a much more materialistic gift for our loved ones. The more rich we are the more realistic we make our holidays and the poorer we are the less materialistic we make it because we don’t have much to spend on but we make it up by having a good time without gifts and just spending time with family. As Americans we are considered to be more materialistic just because we buy so much, this may be true but it is not true for all of us. Some of us choose to be materialistic and some of us can’t choose or we can’t. We make our holiday season what we want it to be whether we want it to be materialistic or not. It’s ultimately up to us only we can make a choice what we want our holidays to be like. No holiday is entirely materialistic nor without it. Materialism is just something we choose to have if we can and if not then there isn't materialism but there is always family for the holidays.

1st Semester of College

Hello Everyone! My name is Jose Renteria and I attend Oxnard College as a freshman for those of you who don’t know that. It has been half a semester since I have attended college and I have to admit that I really enjoy it. I like the fact that I can pick out my own schedule the way I want it to be. Even though college is great and everything there are things that bug me. One of those things is grades, I keep worrying about my grades because I don’t know what they are just yet. The reason why I’m worried is because I want to have straight A’s and do great in college especially since it’s my first year. A challenge I face in school right now is my Chemistry class because I’m trying so hard to understand it and do great in the class but right now that isn't doing so well for me. The best choice for me right now is to get some tutoring which I am highly considering since I struggled on my second exam the other day. The workload right now is no big struggle, it’s manageable but I do end up sometimes spending some nights up just to finish my homework. The reason why I am going through all of this is because I want to make something out of myself which I think is the ultimate pay-off because in the future I will be enjoying life and have the job that always wanted. The reasons that keep me motivated is my future, my girlfriend, and family. Thanks to these three reasons and people I’m not going to stop from trying my best in school and doing all I can to pass and excel in all of my classes. These same reasons are what keeps me going to study and stay in school because I know if I stop now I will forever regret it. In the future I will look back and think all about the things that made me struggle and what I did to achieve what I wanted. Well, this is basically what has happened on my first semester of college. To those of you who are in the same boat as I am, I wish us all luck so that we can get through the struggles and achieve our goals. Best of luck to us! For those of you who are still here following my story please stick along, I guarantee you that you will not be disappointed. Until next time, this is Jose Renteria signing out.

Reality Television Is No Good

This week I will be talking about a topic that a lot of people nowadays watch or look up to. Reality Television is something that most teenagers watch all the time. Not just teenagers but also adults find reality shows to be entertaining. I personally do not watch reality television but I have friends who do. I dislike the idea of reality shows because people look up to it and sometimes wish it was real for them. I dislike reality shows because it alters the world of a family or person who is trying to live their life. Not only that but we don’t give them space and privacy to live their own lives just like how we live our own and enjoy our privacies. How would you feel if you were in their shoes? Of course we don’t know how they feel because they don’t show their real feelings on this whole reality show thing, but I bet they hate it so much because they don’t have privacy.  I think people are being harmed from watching reality shows because we only see other people’s lives instead of paying attention to and living our own lives. There is no reason why I think that we would benefit from reality shows because everyone’s life is different but it should be respected and kept private for everyone. I avoid reality shows because I strongly believe that privacy should be kept private and I do think that watching reality shows is a “guilty pleasure” for people who watch it because they need to watch in order to have a laugh or just keep up to date with celebrities or whoever is in the reality show. Why so we watch reality shows? This is a question I ask myself many times because I still don’t know the real reason as to why people enjoy and watch reality shows. I’m slowly putting the puzzle pieces together though. I have learned that some people watch reality shows for their entertainment. Some people may be bored and don’t know what to do so they turn the TV on and watch reality shows to make them laugh or get them entertained. Some other people watch reality shows because they just want to see how a celebrity is doing or how the life of somebody else is. This may lead to many exposures of the reality star because then so many people will know what happens in their life and people may make fun of the reality star if something embarrassing has happened to them. With reality shows you never know the outcomes or the reactions of people because some may like it and some may not. Some may even hate the reality star and have anger towards them and start to insult them or start to secretly talk to them and make them feel uncomfortable. Now I ask you again, do you really think reality shows should still air and should we watch it? I highly disagree for our own good because we need to respect privacy and live our own lives the way we want to without being influenced by someone else’s. 

Opinions Matter

Opinions are a way for us human beings to express how we feel about something or someone. The feeling can either be right away or it can take some time for you to have a positive or negative opinion about the certain matter of subject. Something that changed my opinion is the iPhone. My opinion slowly changed to be very negative throughout time. My reasons are because they are very expensive and there is not much that has been changed than the predecessors. Before I thought it was something big because they had some good specs on them but after a few new generations of the iPhone there hasn't been much change in order for me to be excited and care about the iPhone so much. This slowly changed and formed my opinion about the iPhone. After a year or two in seeing the new successors it was basically almost like the predecessor but slightly modified and the price is higher. This is something that disappointed me dramatically because I thought it could be better. This opinion has changed me dramatically because I actually liked the iPhone but after a couple disappointments I turned more towards Android phones. Android phones each year have had something changed drastically. This could of been the OS software or the way it shows as appearance. To some of my friends they do not agree with my opinion because they either have an iPhone or just don't really know what an iPhone should have in order to be powerful and be the perfect smartphone. To me and my family nothing has changed because we are not iPhone users and never have been. We are currently Android users and it is so much better than the newest iPhone out today, again that is just my opinion though. Opiniones can either destroy or make you love the things about something or someone.

Food!

During my childhood my family and I hardly went out and ate fast food. It was not in our nature, we were raised by eating homemade food. My mother almost always never took us to eat fast food because she thought it was not healthy which clearly we all know that today. It says it right away also “fast food”, as you can tell there is no word saying that this is nutritious. During my childhood I relied on the homemade food my mom always made. She would make beans with rice and some veggies on the side most of the time. To her that was a complete nutritious plate of food. For me and my siblings it would be the same old boring food to us. It was boring but it was very nutritious because we would stay fit and we were very strong and healthy growing up. Like I said fast food was not a regular thing for our family but it was a nice treat when we did get some. I remember mostly going to Carl’s Jr, or to a burrito place when we would get fast food. Those were the best appealing to us at the time. I remember getting form Carl’s Jr the star shaped nuggets and getting a nice big hamburger with a small drink. Although I always wanted the meal that came with a toy but the thought of getting fast food was already a pleasure. At the time I felt so amazed and went crazy when it came to fast food because we would have a different taste other than beans and rice all the time.

               Today I am eighteen years old and still the same as how my mother raised me. I don’t rely on fast food at all. I rather make myself some homemade food or eat some of my mom’s food that she makes. I do eat a little more fast food than when I was smaller though. I usually get some when I’m far from home or after school if I get really hungry. Today fast food is ok because to me it’s not something that I have to have. I occasionally eat it and when I do it’s mostly with friends or when I go out with my girlfriend and want something quick to eat. Of course though when it is with her I usually take her to a nice restaurant to eat and enjoy ourselves. Fast food is pretty much everywhere. The name speaks for itself as well, it is made fast. Fast food in my case does not hold me down nor am I dependent on it in order to go on to the next day. It is just there for when I am in need of food and I am not home or close by it. Fast food will continue to be in life unfortunately but it will be tracked by me because I do not want to overdo it with fast food. 

Messed Up Hip

Messed Up Hip

The day was very sunny, lots of kids running towards Haycox Elementary School. It was the last day of summer school. I was about seven years old at that time. I was excited but at the same time I was bummed because I enjoyed coming to summer school every day for six weeks straight. The last day of summer school was fun because there was many stations around the playground that were having fun games. I stood there as I saw many kids playing and having fun games. I will never forget the fresh air that was blowing towards my face. The grass was very green and the sun was very bright but that didn’t stop the kids from yelling and having fun. In fact it didn’t stop me either. There was one event in the playground full of fun events that stood out to me and that was the sprinting event.

As I was getting up I always liked to sprint and run fast. It was my passion until the end of my eight grade year in Jr. High School. Many things were running through my mind as I was walking towards the teacher who was running the sprinting event on the blacktop of the playground. He was getting the racing board ready for the racers. “I want to race also”, I said to the teacher who was in charge of the event. The teacher turned around and asked what my name was. I gave him my name and he added me on the racing board. I stood back and saw the first group of kids’ race first. There was about thirty kids including me who were in the race tournament. It was a winner’s advance to the next round kind of race tournament. If you lost once you were out and couldn’t compete anymore. As I saw each race I kept a high mentality and in my head I kept saying, “I can beat those two kids easily”. When my turn came for the first time in the tournament I got ready to compete as I was mentally preparing myself. As me and the kid, who I was racing against, stepped up to the start line we looked very determined to win. We waited for the teacher to blow the whistle so we could start the race. When I heard the teacher blow the whistle, I quickly started to run as fast as fast as I could. When I crossed the finish line I felt so proud of myself. I didn’t get to hear my time but it was pretty fast since the teacher said, “Congratulations! You move on to the next round. Nice timing by the way”. When I realized I won, I was very proud of myself. “Now just a few more races to win”, I said to myself as I was breathing heavily trying to catch my breath. As more and more kids got eliminated, my time to get my breath back and rest was shortened drastically.

I kept racing faster and faster kids just like me as I advanced to the final rounds of the tournament. I didn’t give up at all and I wasn’t planning to. I just kept running until I crossed the finish line every time it was my turn to race. After while there was only two finalists in the racing tournament, which was me and another kid that was as fast as me. I was ready and determined to finish this racing tournament in the top as first place, but things didn’t turn out as I have planned and envisioned.

Before the race my competition and I were having a side conversation as we waited for the teacher to get the race ready. “Good luck!”, “Thank you! Good luck to you too.” I said back to him. “Are you ready?” “Yeah are you?” “Of course!” he said. We both were determined and we were just standing there waiting for the whistle to blow. I was nervous but at the same time I have ever felt in my whole life. “On your mark… set… go!” (Whistle blows). As the whistle blew we both darted like a bullet. The whole time during the race we were neck and neck. It felt as if we were running for a good five minutes but it was only five seconds in the race so far. At this rate we would both be tying for first place, but that’s not what my mentality and determination wanted. Tying in the race was something I didn’t want to envision and experience so I pushed myself a lot. After a while I realized I pushed myself too much because I saw myself rapidly collapsed to the ground a couple steps from the finish line. As I pushed myself I tested my limit and went over it that my body couldn’t handle it and just gave up quickly. Pushing myself too much resulted in a dislocation of my hip which popped in and looked very weird to me. It was my left hip that I dislocated, and my right hip looked as if it was popped out compared to my left. As I tried to get up I was trying to hold back the tears but I couldn’t, I was in so much pain. Just one step and there was so much agonizing pain during this process.

After a few weeks I recovered from the injury and went back to running when the following school year began in late August. I was going to be in the third grade when I came back to school. At first when I looked back to this event I was mad and upset at myself for pushing my limit. Pushing my limit too far made me angry because I should’ve known better. After a while I realized that it wasn’t bad that I pushed myself because I could run for a longer time now and have become faster. My limit was tested and I pushed it too far. As a result I messed up my hip but in reality it helped me because I ran faster and longer than I could have before the injury. It was as if I had new hip installed on me. From this event I learned that I was a competitive kid as I was growing up. Most importantly I learned that I wouldn’t give up on what I want, and if I fail I’ll just come back stronger and better than the last time. This experience made me realize of the many ways that I can be when it comes to competition and also when it comes to learning more about myself.

Marriage

What is marriage to you? This is such an important question for everyone because evrybody should understand the importance of marriage. Marriage is very important because it's a new chapter to your life. Marriage helps you understand the meaning of being faithful. I am not married but I do plan to in the future. I have very strong argument a about why marriage is important and what I think about it's decline in America. I think that marriage is alive in America even though some studies say that it is declining through time. One thing I think is that marriage is strong. I think today marriage is moderate in America because not much people are getting married nowadays. Although, I do think it should be strong because it's a part of life for us humans. Yes, I do believe that marriage is still part of the social fabric. It may not be as much as it was but it is still there. One big question is if it should be in the social fabric, and my answer to that is definitely yes because that's how it's always been and that shouldn't be changed. I think Rivera's essay is very interesting because she explains to us that Mexico City created temporary marriage licenses. Her ideas in temporary marriage is towards doubt in the idea because she thinks that a marriage license is as if you're doubting the marriage from the start. I agree with her because you are basically testing yourself if you are ready and if you want to be married. Some points I agree though but mostly I think the idea of temporary marriage is a bad idea. Some ideas about a marriage license that I agree is that it's for people who aren't sure if the person they're with is the right one. Another idea that I agree is the fact that the marriage license let's you know if you want to be married or not. Marriage shouldn't be taken as a hole. It should be taken really serious because marriage is a bond between your significant other and you promise then to forever stay loyal and faithful to each other through the thick and the thin.

My name is...

As you may know my name is Jose Antonio Renteria. To some of you, you might already think or suspect that my name sounds very Hispanic just by hearing it or looking at the spelling. Well you are right! My name is Hispanic and so am I. Today I am mostly going to focus on my first name Jose but I will add some details of my middle name and last name. My first name came from my dad. His name was also Jose, my mother decided to name me like my father because she cared a lot for him and because he was a kind man. My middle name, Antonio, came from my grandma. My grandmother's name was Antonia and my mom decided to give me her name as my middle name because she missed her ever since she came here. My grandma is in Mexico, until today I have not been able to meet her in person only through an old picture my mom has of her. It has been about 20 years that my mom left Mexico to come to the U.S. to have a better life, and ever since then she has not seen or been with my grandmother since she left to come here. My mom also told me that one of her favorite actors back then had Antonio as a first name, and when she put the names together it sounded perfect to her and so she decided to give me the name of Jose Antonio Renteria. My last name, Renteria, is such a mystery to me because I really don't know much about it. It came from my father of course. One day I was on the internet and typed my last name just to see what it meant and I found out that my last name is actually from Italian roots, I don't know if it's true or not but it is still somewhat of Hispanic origin. What does my name mean to me? To me my name means so many things. It means that I am the son of my father, not only am I like him but I have aquired some traits from him. Some of those traits which are kindness, strength, courage, and being a gentleman. I also aquired his height which I am now 5'11". Like I said earlier my name can be easily identified as Hispanic. My name tells me that I am of Hispanic race because there are a lot of Mexicans that are named Jose. If I had a chance to change my name, would I change it? I would have to say no, because my name makes better sense just the way it is. It is the name people have come to know me as. Without my name I don't know how I would be or act. I'd probably feel like if I was a whole different person. The name Jose Antonio Renteria has a nice tempo and accent to it when you say it complete and that name is mine.

Past, Present, Future

Hello my name is Jose Renteria. I was born on Septemeber 6th, 1996. I am Mexican-American. I was born in Oxnard, California. I am raised by a single mother and had to develop fast because I have to help my mom with my siblings. As a kid I enjoyed playing sports with friends and especially at the parking lot by the apartment I used to live because we would always play until the sun went down. I aslo enjoyed going to school and enjoyed meeting new friends. As a kid I was very curious and lobed to explore my surroundings. I was always ready for an adventure.
Today I am currently studying at Oxnard College. I recently graduated from Hueneme High School. I help out my mom with my siblings when I can. I enjoy going to school and studying. I originally intended to go to Cal State LA but I had some financial aid issues which made up my decision to stay in community college for the following two years and then transfer to a UC or CSU. I want to major in mechanical engineering and hope to be an engineer soon. I always loved to build and make things that is why I chose to pursue a career like mechanical engineering.
In the future I hope to have a job as a mechanical engineer. I would like to one day make my dream house and have a happy family. I also intend to continue studying to become a professional engineer. I intend to help my mother out as I am older. In the future I intend to live a happy life and be very successful to support my family.