Merlin T Lee

March 2, 2017April 10, 2017

Tune Up Time: Kitchen Modernization

Sometimes design choices can remain timeless, however, the builder grade hardware from almost 40 years ago in this 70s condo kitchen isn’t. This kitchen is definitely in need of some modernization, but a full renovation can quickly get expensive. There is another way to do it on a budget though.

The first rule, is that we want to play up the good qualities of this room. One thing that I love about older spaces is that they have better natural lighting. This kitchen has a huge window that lets in a ton of light. We want to preserve this natural light. We also want to keep the layout the same, with only a few changes. While this layout isn’t perfect, it works until a full renovation can be done. Now onto the changes.

The first change that needs to happen is the bank of cabinets over the peninsula needs to be removed. These cabinets visually separate the kitchen from the dining room too much and create two small dark rooms. By removing them, you create one large light filled room that is less cavernous. Their storage duties would also be better served by Billy Bookcases with glass doors in the dining room to store dinnerware. To retain the balance hang an open shelving unit on the wall next to the peninsula. Finally, add stools to the peninsula so the overhang can be used for seating. This creates an open transition area between the dining room and the kitchen which can serve multiple purposes.

The remaining cabinets then need to be dressed up. White slab cabinet doors are boring and get dirty and look gross. There are two options, either replace the cabinet doors and fronts or dress up the existing doors. To dress up the doors, take lattice wood and add horizontal moulding across the fronts of the doors at equal intervals. Then paint all of the fronts and cabinets a light to medium cool grey. The peninsula should be painted a brighter color like cyan and be made to look like a piece of furniture. Finally, replace the hardware with overlay hinges and tab pulls. This decision will add visual interest to the space while keeping the look fairly simple and modern. This will transform the cabinets from blah to a more modern finished look.

So the fridge is missing, that means that all the appliances need to be replaced, right? No! We can easily replace the missing fridge by purchasing an inexpensive unit off craigslist or from a place like Habitat For Humanity ReStore and then using the same kind of high temperature spray paint in silver or aluminum, paint all the appliances to match. Spray painting the appliances is an easy and inexpensive way to update the color and make all the appliances match in a room without breaking the bank on an entire set. It also creates a cohesive element among the appliances.

The next element that needs to be removed is the atrocious light box. Kitchen light boxes are inefficient and have a disgusting yellow tint. Take it out and replace it with 4 LED recessed cans. In a future full renovation the drop ceiling over the kitchen should be removed, but temporarily use it as a place to recess better general lighting. Then add task lighting around the kitchen. Over the peninsula would be a great place to add pendants (which would help balance the space) and under the cabinets add LED light strips and power strips which will give nice work lighting and it will hide countertop appliance cordes.

Finally, the kitchen faucet is dated, lacks scale for the room. A larger faucet this is a more modern design will fit the space better and it will dress up that area of the kitchen. Then add a peel and stick backsplash that will add some blue color. This decision will finalize the design and help transform the space.

In a weekend’s worth of work, this kitchen could be taken from dated and drab to modern and fab on a minimal budget. This new design should keep the kitchen feeling modern for the foreseeable future or until a full renovation is undertaken. It is worth the effort to dress up the kitchen because minimal work will create a beautiful modern space.

February 23, 2017April 10, 2017

Tune Up Time: Mid-Century Modern Living room Renovation

So I have a problem; I like going on real estate websites and looking at fixer uppers, and then thinking what would I do if this was my place. That’s how I found this 1970s condo living room. This space has a lot to love, but it also needs some work mostly due to the space just being dated and lacking defining features.

There are two big features of this space that I love. I love the huge window, which brings in so much natural light. This windows helps make the space brighter and more welcoming. The second feature I love is the fairly open floor plan which allows for a nice flow in an out of the living room. Together these two features are good bones to build off to create a unified space.

Since this is a condo I am making a big assumption that the space is owned. So change the floor (which you most likely won’t be able to do if you rent) to some kind of hardwood, laminate, or wood-look vinyl in a grey, which should be continued through the entire first floor. The brown carpet is dated and it is reflecting an off white light onto the otherwise white walls. The floor also changes midway through the stairwell which divides the space up oddly and makes the floor seem out of level. By changing out the floor the space will feel more unified and larger.

The next element this room needs is a low visual impact partition wall to take attention away from the stairs. In some spaces, this division can be achieved with the stair railing, but in this space the railing doesn’t do enough and feels odd. This division, however, can be achieved by taking inexpensive furring strips, painting them black, and attaching it to the soffit at the top and to another furring strip on the floor to keep them up straight. Then take a 1”x12” that is painted white and attach it to the furring strips so it looks like the landing is extended to the end of the room divider. This partition will give some division between the room and the stairs but it won’t prevent the light from entering the stairs which will preserve the open feel of the space.

The popcorn ceiling is also ugly and needs to be changed. Again, if the space is owned, have the ceiling scraped off and replaced by a professional. It is worth the cost since it probably contains asbestos, but if the space is a rental just be careful not create a large amount of dust and wear a mask. Take more of the black furring strips and have them go across the entire ceiling to seem like they are beams which will dress up the ceiling and give us a place to hide cords for the lights later on.

Since we are taking away the two biggest acoustic elements of the space, we need to add some new ones in. While fabric furniture will provide a large amount of sound deadening, a large floor rug and curtains will provide even more. A circular floor rug will help define the space create defined traffic flow. Flat curtain panels hung from a track system will also cut down on echo as long as the track is attached to the ceiling. A curtain track system will also look cleaner and more modern since the curtains are flat panels instead of bunching up when pushed to the sides.

The next piece is the creation of a conversation pit in the living room. In the center of the room would be the perfect place for a circular coffee table which would preserve the open feel and allow people to move around easily. In the back corner by the partition would be the perfect place for a tuxedo couch like the IKEA Norsborg Sofa, just be sure to change out the legs to something more modern and less stubby. In the front corner by the window would be the perfect place to put a media center and TV that is understated and out of the way but still usable. Finally, on the other side of the pit would be the perfect place for two wingback chairs like the Strandmon from IKEA. Just make sure the furniture isn’t all the same color or else it will look too much like a set which is boring.

On the back wall, would be the perfect place for a gallery wall. This area needs something that will fill the space nicely but won’t be overly heavy since the room is so open. This rules out any kind of shelving or built-ins, since those would be too visually heavy. A gallery wall is a nice place to display things that are important to you, without being too in your face. There is no right or wrong way to create a gallery wall, and they can be as simple or complex as you want. This wall will be a feature and it will finish up the room.

Finally, lighting will put the finishing touches on the room. IKEA has amazing plug in spot lights, which would be perfect to use on the gallery wall. They can be screwed into the ceiling to wash the gallery wall with light and then the cords are run along faux beams and the partition wall to a receiver for a wireless switch and they will look like they are permanent lights, but they won’t be. Then on the partition next to the couch would be the perfect place for clamp on light. This light will provide task lighting when on the couch. Finally, in between the two wingback chairs, would be the perfect place for a streamlined cigar shaped floor lamp which will provide task lighting at the chairs without being too intrusive. The lighting is the final touch for bringing together the room.

Together these details come together and create a cohesive mid century modern look for the space which uses the light and the openness of the space to its advantage, instead of fighting it. By making these few changes the space is now more cosy and functional; exactly how a living room should be.

February 16, 2017April 10, 2017

Tune Up Time: Bathroom Redo

The old adage goes, there are two rooms that sell houses, and those are bathrooms and kitchens. While these two rooms may sell houses, I am of the mindset that these rooms should always look nice and they should fit into your life. For this week’s Tune Up Time, I will be giving this utilitarian rental bathroom a makeover that will greatly increase the look and the functionality on a budget.

In this bathroom, there are two things that I would not touch for this renovation: the first is the cabinets, they’re a nice dark wood shaker style, which contrasts the lighter elements in the space well, and the second is the brushed nickel/chrome fixture which are timeless and versatile so they will work with almost any style. Both of these two elements are fairly simple as well which helps them fit into almost any style. For this renovation, keep these fixtures and save the budget for other parts of the new design.

The first change for the space needs to be dressing up the window corner. The mgniblinds that were used are ugly and look like they were taken out of a 1980s office. And while they need to go back to that office, they can be difficult to take down and put back up when you move out. Instead we are going to focus on hiding them. A cornice will look nice, and if it is added from ceiling level to just below the top of the window it will conceal the ugly mechanicals for the mini blinds. Then hang long curtain panels inside the cornice that reach the floor which will hide the edges of the mini blinds and the additional hardware like the cord the turning rod. Just remember we are only trying to hide the edges of the window, because we are technically treating the wall not the window.

The shower could use some dressing up as well. The original curtain rod is a nice place to hang an inexpensive clear liner so the water doesn’t splash everywhere, but it isn’t very high up, which will make the ceiling seem oddly low. To fix this problem, add a curved shower rod that is high up and further out, just outside the shower surround. The curtain used here doesn’t have to be a shower curtain then since it won’t be getting wet, however, the curtain should be similar to the one used on the window since the two are in the same room.

The next change for this bathroom is all the white grab bars and toilet roll holder need to be replaced with chrome, brushed nickel, or stainless steel ones. All three of these metals look similar enough that you can get by with combining them and they don’t look out of place. This way the bars will match the plumbing fixtures, the cabinet hardware, and the light fixture. The white bars look cheaper than the metal ones even though they cost more, especially on the gross beige off white wall that should be repainted high contrast white. By replacing these bars, you will then unify the space because all your fixtures will match.

The next glaring issue with this bathroom is the weird medicine that is divided into thirds. I never seen a medicine cabinet divided up like this outside of this building, especially coupled with high storage cabinets right next to the sink, so it just needs to be replaced. Medicine cabinets are easy to take down and put back up when you move out with a simple drill-driver. In its place, a mirror that is framed to match the cabinets instead of getting something with an equally weird white border will help unify the space as well. That way you can actually use the mirror without large black lines dividing your face into thirds like some kind of geometry problem.

Next, cover the vanity top with marble contact paper. While this project is not expensive at all, it is involved, but it will dress up the room and make it worth it. The white fiberglass top is ugly and will be a pain to keep clean unless you religiously bleach it. Marble is timeless, and will keep the light look that the top currently has, which I do like since it contrasts the cabinets in a good way.

Then, in the odd gap between the vanity and the window, place a small end table which would be a good place to add a plant. The plant will add an organic spa like element to the space, and a real plant will help clean out the air which is always nice. Just make sure to leave enough space in the corner for curtain panels to gather.

Above the toilet is an oddly large empty wall. This space would be perfect for either high above the toilet overflow storage or it would be a nice place for a large mirror that would also be framed to match the cabinets. If you go with the storage idea, either use shallow off the shelf cabinets that match the vanity or DIY a shallow open shelving unit that is stained to match the wood of the cabinets. Either way use French Cleats to hang the storage since they can be hidden easily and are remarkably strong. Either solution will fill the space in nicely and create a welcoming feel for the space.

Finally, the grouted vinyl tile isn’t a great look especially in the fake red stone finish, so a nicer rug would be perfect in the space. For a completely unique look, an outdoor rug would be perfect, since there aren’t as many designs for bathmats as there are outdoor rugs. Outdoor rugs are also designed to get wet and dry quickly, so they are prefect for use in a bathroom. The rug is the final touch that will bring the room together and unify the space.

With simple touches, the space went from looking like a hodgepodge of random utilitarian off the shelf elements in a typical rental, to a personal bathroom that would be pleasant to use on a daily basis.

February 9, 2017April 10, 2017

Tune Up Time: Kitchen/Dining Makeover

The kitchen in most homes is the most important room. Not only does the room have to be functional, but it also needs to look good. While this typical rental kitchen has some elements I do like, for example the dark wood cabinets, there are several elements that I do not like that need to be either dressed up or changed.

Most rentals do not have nice wooden cabinets, this rental however has fairly nice looking dark wood cabinets that should stay. Wood cabinets don’t work in all spaces, but in this space add a much needed organic element, especially when contrasted with the brushed nickel hardware. They are also a simple enough shaker style that they can go with most styles which makes them versatile in their current form. My verdict is to leave them alone.

The first change this spaces needs is a fresh coat of paint that is not institutional off white. These walls are a beige-y warm off white. A neutral high contrast white will look much better for the space by not only brightening it up, but the paint color will also provide a better contrast with the cabinets. In the actual kitchen part, a semi-gloss paint will also hide the recessed lights in the ceiling and switch plates better while providing an easier to clean finish. In the rest of the room (and apartment) either a satin or eggshell finish would be better since they will brighten the space but not overpower; as well, glossy paints are only necessary in areas where durability and the ability to regularly clean are desired, otherwise a less expensive satin or eggshell is fine.

A pro tip for good design, is to paint the switch plates and registers when a room is painted. In the first picture every outlet, light switch, and heating register is clearly visible, even in the background of the image. This effect is not desired. While these objects are required to have a functioning house, by painting over they will blend into the wall and become unnoticeable unless the viewer is up close. It is worth it in a rental to just spend the money to replace the switch plates when you move out if simply painting over them white doesn’t return them to a desired color (and usually painting them white will suffice). This tip is the difference between good design and great design.

The next part of the room that stands out is the institutional metal double doors and electrical panel. Behind the double doors is the washer and dryer so they can’t just be covered with shelves or artwork that isn’t easy to move; instead, hang either a large tapestry or several curtain panels to cover the ugly elements and act as a feature wall. By using something that can easily be moved out of the way the washer and dryer can still be used on a regular basis and the electrical panel is easily accessible in the event that a breaker is tripped, but you won’t have to look at any of the design faux pas. IKEA has relatively inexpensive options for wire or track options for hanging the panels or tapestry. Conversely, you could also DIY a wire using off the shelf parts from a home center if you desire full control over the solution.

In front of the long half wall, a sofa table or some other type of long thin tall table would work well in the space and not overpower the room. Something like a Parsons Table or a table with hairpin or taper legs will add visual interest to the space. Then on top of the table, style with circular elements like using pillar candles on a circular serving platter or plate and using a circular bowl as a drop zone to counteract all the harsh angles of the half wall. Then add a plant to the table in a circular pot to not only add an organic feel to the space (which will help the place feel homier and less institutional), but also add another circular element. Just remember to style it in threes or a similar magic “design number.”

On the large swath of wall next to the opening would be a great place to hang a mirror. The mirror should be large and extend almost all the way from the top of the table to the ceiling. This mirror will do two things then: first it will make the space feel bigger by not only reflecting part of the room and light, but it will also draw the eye up by extending so far up on the wall; secondly the mirror will minimize the visual impact of the soffit by drawing the eye toward a different element of the design, i.e. the mirror.

Above the table, would be a good place to hang a plug in pendent light which would add nice general lighting to the space and help further define the area around the table. The addition of this light will also get us to the magic design number of three which is a good balance for design work. To increase the design level further, hide the cord for the light behind mirror and table and use a wireless switch like Phillips Hue or Lutron Caséta to turn the light on an off. This design choice will make the pendent seem like it is permanently installed without requiring an electrician to be called.

While on the topic of lighting, the institutional fluorescent light fixture in the kitchen needs to have a diffuser either built or bought to cover it. It looks like it belongs in a utilitarian office, and will stand out in a bad way no matter how well the rest of the space is designed.

In front of the short half wall would be a good place to add a small kitchen cart which could act as storage for dining essentials or as a bar. This element will help define the small transitional area as a dining room and better utilize the space. It will also create functional decor, which is taking something that is used or consumed and treating it like a decoration. Place the alcohol on a circular mirrored serving platter to further counteract the harsh angles of the half wall, or use a circular cart, but those can be expensive and hard to find. On the lower shelf of the cart, would be a good place to house overflow storage in decorative storage boxes to further counteract the harsh angles.

To completely define the space as a dining area, a large rectangular rug that will completely cover the odd transition between ugly office carpet and ugly vinyl tile would be necessary to fully define the space and remove the odd breakup of the room. Then on top of that rug, place a circular rug in something like grey or jute to define the area where the table will go and create open defined traffic flow patterns for the space. These rugs fully defines the area as a dining room.

On top of the circular rug, should then be a circular table. A table with a design language similar to the Saarinen Table would be perfect space the space, especially if it is accompanied with similar chairs in either colored or clear acrylic. While Knoll (the company that makes the real Saarinen) charges thousands of dollars for even a smaller version of the table, IKEA sells a 41” table that looks almost the same for under $200. If you want the marble top that some versions of the Saarinen Table have, a roll of marble contact paper can achieve the desired look on a budget and no one will be the wiser, well unless they have to move it.

Finally above the table would be a perfect place to use one of the recessed light to pendent kits to provide better dining task lighting. While this is not pictured, it will put the final touch on the space and make the dining room brighter and create a better dining experience, especially if the fixture is paired with something like Phillips Hue or Lutron Caséta which allows an infinite number of options for controlling the lights to create the perfect ambiance.

This space is now more cohesive and better designed than when I started with it, and some of the more questionable elements have been either changed or hidden which increases the design level of the space dramatically. At the end of the day, the space is homier and more comfortable to spend time in.

December 17, 2016January 26, 2018

Dr. Azrael’s Medicine

The esteemed biologist Rachel Carson once wrote in her famous book Silent Spring, “A grim specter has crept upon us almost unnoticed, and this imagined tragedy may easily become a stark reality we all shall know” (3). In this quote Carson means chemical pesticides have become so widely used they will cause tragedy to sweep the entire country in an epidemic. She draws a parallel between the coming of the Angel of Death, Azrael, and the result from the usage of these substances on crops. This parallel shows the true result of the persistent organic polluters that our society has become enamored with and feel like are necessary for daily life. Carson was able to see the result of this path even back in the 1962 and received massive support until the end of the end of the stormy sixties when environmentalism fell out of fashion, but the problems didn’t go away.

Environmentalism is not a trend; it is a way of life. In the face of avaricious agricultural chemical conglomerates like Syngenta, today more than ever, environmentalists are needed. Throughout the United States, there are many different problem areas for environmental impact, but the primarily agricultural Dubois County is in trouble because of the rampant usage of atrazine as a chemical pesticide to grow corn even cheaper. Atrazine is responsible for creating a dangerous environment in the region for all living things-including ones that are not the intended targets. From humans to aquatic creatures, all the innocents are given a wrongful conviction and death sentence through this miscarriage of justice which should be overturned through an outright ban on atrazine and atrazine- containing products.

Atrazine is throwing away the food web. For instance, in their study, Tyrone B. Hayes et al. designed a study where selective breeding made the starting frogs male and while the control sample stayed male 10% of the Atrazine treated frogs became female even though they were determined to be genetically male (4612). This result is significant because it shows a correlation that Atrazine is an endocrine disrupter which will result in problems with the food web. In Ferdinand, Indiana, fishing is a somewhat common activity during the summer. Even as a young child, I remember my grandfather taking me out fishing. We were in the populous who would simply throw the fish back in, but others would actually eat them. I also remember how we were forced to move from lake to lake because the amount of fish in each lake continued to drop. The population drops in the lakes became such a problem we eventually had to join a membership only lake in order to catch anything. This drop was no coincidence. My grandfather had been fishing in the same spots for the better part of seventy years and the population drop was accompanied by one thing, the rampant spraying of atrazine on the area corn. Eventually, the problems began to be seen in unrelated species like squirrels and deer during the hunting season because of one small disruption in fish. The predators who would normally rely on a combination of woodland creatures and fish were forced to focus on forest animals. The pervasive spraying of Atrazine was to blame for the disruption in populations in the community. The fish were unable to reproduce at the levels they once were since the number of males dropped, which resulted in a massive drop in population. The death warrant that Syngenta signed for these animals directly led to the drop in the fish population causing a ripple effect through the other species of the area.

Atrazine is causing an epidemic of “failure to thrive” in the animal community. In their study, Jason R. Rohr and Krista McCoy explain how amphibians and fish have to divert energy from growth to detoxify atrazine from their system which causes a delay in growth (21). These effects were prevalent and I remember seeing them when I was fishing. Every lake that allows public fishing must have a sign stating the sizes of fish that are ok to keep and the sizes that must be thrown back in addition to numbers of fish allowed to take. Over time, my grandfather and I saw the sizes and numbers allowed to take decreased and the fish that we were catching seemed to be smaller and smaller every year. A quick look at the current state regulations for large mouth bass yields that Ferdinand State Forest requires the bass to be outside of 12 to 15 inches and Patoka Lake requires the bass to be larger than 15 inches which are some of the lowest size requirements in the state of Indiana for areas that don’t follow the state requirements (Indiana Department of Natural Resources). For a large mouth bass, these sizes are minuscule. Size limits are only enacted when the natural population is threatened in some way. The fact that these sizes are tiny implies that the fish in the area are not growing like they should. When an animal or human doesn’t grow like it should that is called “failure to thrive”. In a normal population, few animals should be “failure to thrive” but atrazine skews it lower because the animals must detox their bodies instead of growing. This result is exactly what is happening in Dubois county. The fish are shrinking and suffering from “failure to thrive” because of the unchecked atrazine use. This epidemic of “failure to thrive” is only happening because the farms want to make corn even more cheaply, so instead of doing what is best for everyone, agribusiness hands out death sentences like candy on Halloween.

Hurst, Mary Margaret. Boy and Grandfather. 1999. 35mm Photography.

This photograph shows that atrazine is figuratively killing the natural beauty in Dubois County through the coloration. In the background is a Ferdinand, Indiana, cornfield early in the growing season. From the sky that looks about to storm to the lack of any defined highlights the overall image has a grim coloration. The usage of a grainy film further exaggerates the grim coloration because the grain makes the picture looking more like a documentary picture rather than simply a family picture. A stormy sky is also a common motif used to exhibit impending doom. Since the artist purposely included a cloudy dark sky in the picture she had to be implying that the pesticides used in the background are going to hurt her grandson. Since there are no defined highlights, including in places they are expected like on the metal rings of the barrel, it also implies that darkness is washing over the town. This darkness is the unchecked epidemic of atrazine use. The grandmother that took this photograph saw the change over time in her home and created the image to document the loss of natural beauty. It was through her symbolic elements like grim coloration that she was able to catch the eye of the viewer to bring it in before finally driving the point home.

This photograph also shows the literal destruction caused by rampant atrazine usage in Dubois county. Between the roadway and the corn field there is a defined line of nothing. This line is caused by overspray from the farm equipment that sprays the atrazine on the corn. Instead of having an area that would be populated by wildflowers and other plants that would create a natural and beautiful barrier between the road and the field, there is a giant patch of nothing. The photographer also wanted to document that because of atrazine overspray there was severe erosion when it rains leading

to the formation of a small ditch. If this hillside was in a town that wasn’t agricultural then that small hill would be covered in wildflowers and other beautiful natural plants instead of empty soil. The picture also shows irregular patches of grass in the foreground of the image. While it may seem like a minute detail, it is gargantuan. These irregular patches of grass are caused by overspray from the atrazine used on the corn ending up on grass that is not atrazine resistant. The photographer wanted to document how the atrazine was being blown across the street and onto her lawn causing dead patches. Since she made sure to include small patches it drives home the point even more about atrazine killing off unintended parts of the environment in Dubois County. This idea directly shows how atrazine is hurting the environment in Dubois County since the places that aren’t meant to be destroyed are.

The inclusion of a grandfather and child in the photograph shows how atrazine affects everyone in Dubois County. A small child is a common motif for innocence and the elderly is a typical motif for a helplessness. By depicting two of the most vulnerable groups in society in the image the photographer is able to show how atrazine will eventually get to them. Atrazine will start out far away and not seem like it hurts them but it will eventually find them and bring them down too. The photographer wanted to make sure this idea was shown which is why she showed her husband and grandson. The two are also depicted as doing everyday yard work which shows how atrazine is going to hurt the population during their daily life. This depiction shows that atrazine is a silent killer of sorts. It is used and then builds up before finally causing the damaging effects. This idea means that while plants are affected quickly, humans will take more time to show the symptoms. This grandmother began to see these problems at the beginning of the atrazine epidemic which caused her to focus on bringing light through this photograph. The photo describes a situation where no one is safe in Dubois County from the atrazine exposure which is the main miscarriage of justice for the area.

Atrazine destroys the psyche of people. While this result may seem like an extreme reaction, the reality of the situation is consistent. According to Janet Raloff, “Atrazine’s ability to provoke hormonal perturbation in test animals is one of the more dramatic signs of its toxicity…The presence of too much estrogen or estrogen at the worn time can not only alter reproductive development but also can pose cancer risks” (19). This excerpt shows how Atrazine acts as an endocrine disrupter by affecting the female reproductive system in a similar way to “the pill” only with more risks. Around the time I was born, the effects of Atrazine runoff were just being discovered and my town had been finding high levels in the drinking water. My friend Xavier’s parents grappled with the inability to have children for a good portion of their marriage until he was born. He is their only natural-born child. They tried for several more years after he was born until they finally gave up and adopted his sister. The problem was that the couple was healthy and in the prime of their life, there was no medical reason why they shouldn’t have been able to have children. This narrative continued to become very common for the families where the mother had lived a good portion of her recent life in Ferdinand, like for Camilla a fourth-grade teacher or Norah a second-grade teacher. Atrazine induces a similar effect in women like “the pill” does, which makes it impossible for people to have their own children. In a predominantly Catholic community birth control is not only discouraged but having your own children is viewed as being a better Catholic. The populous of this town is being put down by their peers with many children because of callous disregard by the chemical companies that produce atrazine. These people are given a sentence to be viewed as less by their peers and have their psyche disrupted because they also don’t think they are being “good enough” Catholics. This thinking results in a group of people who are being destroyed mentally from all angles because of Syngenta’s dangerous environmental creation.

Atrazine is causing a death of development for humans. In the study designed by Hugo Ochoa-Acuña et al. which focused specifically on Indiana and included data specifically about Dubois County and it was determined while there is not a correlation between prenatal atrazine expose from drinking water and preterm delivery, there is a correlation between prenatal atrazine from drinking water and small gestational age (SGA) (1622-1623). SGA is “defined as birth weight below the 10th percentile for a given sex and gestational week” (Ochoa-Acuña et al. 1619). To put this data into perspective a control group had about 11% SGA, but if the fetus was in the third trimester during the growing season when atrazine concentrations are highest in the drinking water the medium and high exposure group skyrocketed by 19% and 17% from 14.3% and 13.1% respectively (Ochoa-Acuña et al. 1621). It is impossible for this significant increase to be coincidental. For example, my birthday is August second. This timeline means that I was in the final trimester from May until I was born. When I was born I was considered full term but I was underweight and they thought I may have to be life flighted to Riley Hospital in Indianapolis because of a heart condition that being underweight may magnify an in utero heart condition. To make a long story short, I popped out and was perfectly fine without a heart condition but there are many children who aren’t as lucky. These conditions are caused by the atrazine in the water supply because the fetus must detoxify the chemical instead of growing. These children are being given a sentence to live their entire life with a death of development because of the callous

disregard for taking into account the effects that atrazine will have on them. They will always be smaller than their peers who weren’t exposed to the chemical. It is through this result that the children in this area are having their development stunted and therefore killed. These children are one of the biggest innocents that are being hurt by this chemical unnecessarily.

Atrazine should be banned, today. Between 1992 and 2003, the two communities with watersheds that are at least partially contained in Dubois County of Holland and Winslow were sent notices for excessive concentrations of Atrazine in the filtered drinking water (Leer 3). These violations were prior to the re-registration of atrazine by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) that limited the usage of the pesticide to only a handful of states and required the states like Indiana who still used the pesticide to bring the concentrations in drinking water under 3 parts per billion (Johnson and Whitfield 3). These sources show that the EPA is already attempting to limit the usage of this harmful chemical but the problems aren’t going to stop by simply limiting the usage; an outright ban should be enacted to prevent the future from being afflicted by the death and destruction caused by atrazine. Instead of allowing the future generations to also be hurt by this chemical pesticide we should just get rid of it because it’s not going to leave the water supply without that action being taken. The atrazine will simply stay in these communities in a high concentration and possibly spread to other major cities. Eagle Creek in Indianapolis is already requiring strict monitoring and Fort Wayne has been sent a notice of violation (Leer 3). The next cities could be Chicago or Louisville. Atrazine knows no boundary; if there is water, atrazine can and will spread there. This spreading is precisely why it should be banned because it will eventually affect everyone. It will start in the midwest but the currents and rivers will eventually take it to other larger cities and wreak havoc. Instead of allowing the death and destruction the only real option is a ban for this miscarriage of justice.

This usage wouldn’t be allowed on either coast. If the bulk of Manhattan or Hollywood or any other location in a state that borders an ocean were experiencing fish that are failing to thrive or massive reproductive issues then atrazine would be banned over night, but since these places are getting cheap corn no one cares about the rednecks that are producing it. Instead of having a Bono benefit concert we get hospital stays and the inability to grow, but we must be stronger in the Midwest because we are told to just accept our fate and live with it. The government or news would help if we were New York or Portland or even New Orleans, but since we are rednecks there isn’t a need to give help. The people in Dubois County and Indiana, in general would actually push the envelope to get help too, if there were in a place like Berkeley, California or Ithaca or Bethel, New York. The people in Dubois County, however, are kept ignorant on the problems because they are obedient and believe everything that the Republican puppet masters want them to believe. There are two ways to solve the problems in the area because of this thinking. The first would be the improbable epiphany that the populous would have to have. The second and more realistic one would be an outside force like the government acting to stomp out the fire of rampant atrazine spraying through a ban. These options are the only realistic ones because the companies only care about their bottom line instead of the death and destruction their products actually cause. This reason is precisely why atrazine should be banned because it would be banned these problems happened in a state with a coast.

Atrazine is the new DDT and should have the same fate. In a personal interview with a Customer Development Manager with 21 years experience at Winfield Solutions, LLC. which is a subsidiary of Land O’ Lakes, inc., Evan Wilson told me that, “Modern chemical pesticides are not DDT. Modern regulations are much better, and the chemicals that cause cancer don’t even make it to market. If you are really worried just wash it off.” In a quick look at the Winfield website I was able to immediately see atrazine is one of their products, and it comes in two forms Atrazine 4L and Atrazine 90DF (Winfield Solutions). The research is out there to dispute atrazine’s safety. The myth of washing off your foods has also been disputed because of how long it would take to get all the harmful chemicals off the foods. This interview began to turn into a propaganda statement about the benefits of pesticides without mentioning any of the risks. DDT at one time was also marketed as completely safe. Looking back on that fiasco that almost led to the extinction of our national Mascot, the Bald Eagle, the parallels are uncanny. The environmental disruption is happening again but the manufacturers don’t want the average person to know about it because it will hurt their bottom line. Once atrazine is finally condemned to the past, it will be viewed in the same light as DDT because of the grim effects and the fight agribusiness is putting up. If agribusiness cared they would stop the use, but it will take governmental action again to rewrite the miscarriage of justice again like it had to do with DDT.

You don’t need a perfect looking food. Again in a the conversation with Evan Wilson, he informed me that, “When you think of an apple you don’t think of a greenish thing with spots, you think of a bright red apple. Washington apples just don’t happen naturally. They require pesticides.” As nice as a pretty apple is to look at, I’m going to eat; if I wanted to stare at a nice apple I would buy wax fruit because at least then it won’t mold after a short amount of time. Perfect food is not worth the environmental devastation it causes. It is literally just going to be eaten, not put into the Museum of Modern Art or the

Louvre. Perfect corn does not digest any better than corn that has spots or bites. The thinking that requires every ear of corn to be perfect is superfluous and leading to mass devastation. The only way to change this thinking is to make atrazine infused perfect foods banned. This reason is precisely why atrazine should go the way of the dinosaurs through a ban.

Rampant atrazine spraying is a major factor in the destruction of the environment in Dubois County, Indiana. It is leading the region down a path toward devastation for unintended innocent species including aquatic animals and humans. These creatures are being given a miscarriage of justice today. So, are we going to follow the example Rachel Carson set back in the 1960s in her push for the ban on DDT, or are we going to allow agribusiness to continue to give communities a death sentence so they may create cheap corn produced using atrazine.Works Cited

Carson, Rachel. Silent Spring. 25th Anniversary ed. Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 1987. Print. Hayes, Tyrone B., Vicky Khoury, Anne Narayan, Mariam Nazir, Andrew Park, Travis Brown,

Lillian Adame, Elton Chan, Daniel Buchholz, Theresa Stueve, Sherrie Gallipeau, and David B. Wake. “Atrazine Induces Complete Feminization And Chemical Castration In Male African Clawed Frogs (Xenopus Laevis).” Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences 107.10 (2010): 4612-617. JSTOR. Web. 30 Nov. 2015.

Hurst, Mary Margaret. Boy and Grandfather. 1999. 35mm Photography.

Indiana Department of Natural Resources. “2012 Indiana Fishing Regulations.” Indiana Department of Natural Resources, 2012. PDF File.

Johnson, Bill and Fred Whitford. “Atrazine and Drinking Water: Understanding the Needs of Farmers and Citizens.” Purdue Extension, 2007. PDF File.

Leer, Steve. “Atrazine and Drinking Water: Understanding the Needs of Farmers and Citizens.” Purdue University, 2005. PDF File.

Ochoa-Acuña, Hugo, Jane Frankenberger, Leighanne Hahn, and Cristina Carbajo. “Drinking-

Water Herbicide Exposure in Indiana and Prevalence of Small-for-Gestational-Age and Preterm Delivery.” Environ Health Perspect Environmental Health Perspectives (2009): 1619-624. JSTOR. Web. 4 Dec. 2015.

Raloff, Janet. “Weed Killer in the Crosshairs: Concerns Prompt Reexamination of Atrazine’s

Safety.” Science News (2010): 18-21. JSTOR. Web. 29 Nov. 2015.

Rohr, Jason R., and Krista McCoy. “A Qualitative Meta-Analysis Reveals Consistent Effects Of

Atrazine On Freshwater Fish And Amphibians.” Environmental Health Perspectives 118.1 (2010): 20-32. JSTOR. Web. 30 Nov. 2015.

Winfield Solutions. “WinField – Product Detail.” WinField – Product Detail. WinField, 2015. Web. 1 Dec. 2015. .

Wilson, Evan. Personal Interview. 27 Nov. 2015.

December 16, 2016January 26, 2018

Canning

Canning can help make your produce last all year. My grandmother, who was a cafeteria lady at the local school, was an avid canner. In her basement, she had an entire wall of deep shelves that were shoved full of well organized canned products in the root cellar. During the growing season, my grandparents would eat the produce they were growing by starting with the what was picked first and then going toward the new pickings. Eventually, they would have so much produce, however, that my grandmother would take her mason jars and her pressure cooker and go to town with all of the fresh produce her husband had brought in. Following the pressure cooking, she would put reasonable expiration dates on the jars and take them down into the root cellar. Then, even in the dead of winter, their home grown produce could be enjoyed.

Preserving your own food can be a good way to make yourself partially or fully self-sufficient. Recipes can easily be found online for how to can your favorite food, but the basics are similar for most foods. When you use the pressure cooking method, you have to get above 240oF for a length of time, which depends on the food and typically ranges from 10 minutes to as much as 30 minutes. There are many things factored into this time limit but it’s best to follow it and adjust accordingly if the instructions differ at your altitude.

The time limit on canning comes from the amount of time required to kill off the bacteria that occurs naturally on fresh produce. In normal conditions these bacteria will just cause the food to spoil over time, but when the bacteria are heated to the boiling point of water (212oF) they form spores. These spores are then dormant until the seal is broken between the lid and jar by opening. Once you open it, these spores are released and ingested. These bacteria then can cause serious illnesses like botulism.

Canning can be a great way to preserve the foods your grow at home. Depending on the model you get, the pressure cooker may not be very expensive (under $100) and can be used for many years to come. The mason jars can also be bought new and reused inexpensively or purchased second hand and reused. Don’t feel weird about reusing old jars either because you will be completely sanitizing them when you can your foods anyway.

December 14, 2016January 26, 2018

To Spray or Not to Spray

Don’t it always seem to go

That you don’t know what you’ve got Till it’s gone

They paved paradise

And put up a parking lot (5-9).

When Joni Mitchell famously recorded these lyrics in “Big Yellow Taxi” for the first time 45 years ago, she couldn’t have imagined how impactful this song would become. She painted how once we destroy the environment there is no way to get it back, and then once it is gone we will finally miss it and wish we had protected it. Mitchell devised this call-to-action to bring attention to the harms of the most commonly used pesticide at the time, which was DDT, but her song has recently been reintroduced into popular culture through rerecording by various artists to call attention to the harms of the current most commonly used pesticide, which is Monsanto’s glyphosate or more commonly known as Roundup, and other modern chemical pesticides. Through vague diction and metaphor, Joni Mitchell’s “Big Yellow Taxi” accurately depicts how chemical pesticides are destroying the environment and humanity by creating a toxic environment where nothing can thrive and disrupts the food web. A toxic environment destroys anything inside the environment, including humans, which murders genetic diversity and forges a ticking time bomb for a population collapse.

Mitchell acts like the environmental essentials are sexy, when they aren’t. One of Mitchell’s few inaccuracies on the ramifications of chemical pesticides is in between line 10 and 13,

They took all the trees

Put ’em in a tree museum

And they charged the people

A dollar and a half just to see ‘em.

When these lines are analyzed along with the lines 19 and 20, “hey farmer, farmer/ put away that DDT now,” it can be taken that Mitchell was trying to argue that someone will take essential parts of the environment and capitalize on them while the rest of it is destroyed by chemical pesticides. The problem with this idea is, the essential parts of the environment are just not sexy enough to be saved. Zoos, for example, are not filled with native animals. When I was at the zoo I was surrounded by people who were there to see creatures from somewhere else in the world, like lions from Africa, tigers from Asia, and bears from the Arctic. No one seemed troubled by the Kentucky native animals or the multitude of brown rats, which is commonly used in science, even though they are essential. They just kept walking by giving me crazy looks, like “why the hell does he care about that ugly little vermin.” Especially with the brown rat, most people have that animal to thank for the good life they can have and not be killed by daily products like shampoo. If the visitors really cared about these animals, then they would actually do more at home to protect them, but none of these native animals are exotic. Therefore the majority of Americans really don’t seem to care about them even if they do play a key role in their daily lives, which is at odds with Mitchell’s depiction.

Mitchell shows beneficial species are being slaughtered accurately. Throughout the entire song Mitchell consistently brings up “That you don’t know what you’ve got/’til it’s gone” (6-7). This idea is an exact conclusion. Experts for the World Wildlife Fund estimate the current extinction rate “to be between 1,000 and 10,000 times higher than the natural extinction rate.” While pesticides are not the only cause of this rapid extinction of species, it is one of the major causes. Many of the species, like the frogs, are just in the wrong place at the wrong time. These frogs live in areas with insect problems and take care of the insects to limit the population and not throw off the food web. These species are being annihilated just so crops can be produced cheaper and with less labor or allow fairway-like lawns in the suburbs without any regard for what was living there before. This accurate description shows the loss of critical genetic diversity which is needed to move forward as a species and ecosystem that chemical pesticides causes.

Contrary to Joni Mitchell’s extrapolation, chemical pesticides aren’t causing birds to just fall out of the sky. Mitchell’s vague diction shows chemical pesticides are killing off necessary parts of the food chain, but not in the most accurate light. In “Big Yellow Taxi” Mitchell sings:

Hey farmer farmer

Put away that DDT now

Give me spots on my apples

But leave me the birds and the bees Please! (19-23)

The diction of, leave, put away, and spots intentionally leaves the portrayal of DDT’s affects vague to allow the listeners imagination to run wild. For example, someone could think that DDT is causing flocks of birds and swarms of bees to suddenly fall out of the sky when they are in the presence of

chemical pesticides. This depiction is not accurate since chemical pesticides don’t directly kill off anything except plants unless you are drowning something in a vat of it, but their build up in communities does cause mutations. These mutations in most situations do lead to a massive die off of at least one population. Then when that population is lost an important part of the food chain is lost for good, causing the rest of the community to fail to thrive. By intentionally leaving the effects vague, Mitchell is able to give off effect to get people interested, but chemical pesticide spraying has never caused the immediate death of animals.

Mitchell’s agreement about chemical pesticides effectively throw out genetic material like it is a baby in the bath water is spot on. The position that Mitchell argues about the loss of beneficial species in the metaphor between DDT (20) and “the birds and the bees” (22) is fairly accurate for today. “The birds and the bees” is a common metaphor for sexual reproduction and how genetic information is passes on in the process, so Mitchell means that she doesn’t want all the evolutionary improvements made to be thrown away. For example, Susan Milius describes a correlation that the study unearthed between the usage of the chemical pesticides glyphosate and atrazine and frogs becoming intersex in Avon, Conn. ponds (28). These frogs won’t be able to breed and continue on the species which effectively ends the genetic line and throws out generations worth of evolution. This example is important because it shows how these species are becoming endangered and their genetic improvements are being lost. While this example is fairly extreme it is a, sadly, not uncommon example of the loss of genetic diversity from chemical fertilizers, which Mitchell blatantly brings up in the song.

The domino effect is real and Mitchell accurately shows it will destroy the food web. Mitchell accurately shows this idea in lines 21 and 22 between the “Give me spots on my apples/ But leave me the birds and the bees.” This extrapolation means the animals which are being destroyed are essential for the continuation of the planet because everything in the food web is interconnected somehow. For example, changes to one species of frog will affect humans. Rick A. Relyea designed a study to see how Roundup disrupts the food web by causing developmental changes in various creatures (634). While these changes may not seem like a big deal, in reality they are a huge deal. In ecology energy transfer and food webs determine the essential workings of a community. When one part of the food web is disrupted, then the entire web is damaged. When the tadpoles in the study have developmental changes induced by the Roundup more of them survived the predator (Relyea 638). In the natural world, as opposed to the closed environment in the study, if the rate that the prey is killed decreases, then the population of the prey would increase. Eventually the population of the predator would continue to decrease, which would send ripples upwards through the rest of the web, while the population of the prey would continue to increase and eventually reach the carrying capacity, which is the maximum amount of a single species an ecosystem can support. This result would cause massive death among the community the food web is for since the population of the tadpoles would then crash since the ecosystem could no longer support their population size. The result would then be that the top of the population, which is usually man, would follow since their food sources decreased in population because of the changes in one group. This result would in turn result in very unrelated species feeling the effects because of one chemical being put into the ecosystem, causing others to not thrive as well which is what Mitchell alludes to.

Chemical pesticide usage is like playing Russian Roulette with all chambers loaded according to Mitchell which hits the nail on the head. Mitchell introduces her final theory on how chemical pesticides affect man in lines 29-32

Late last night

I heard the screen door slam And a big yellow taxi

Took away my old man

This excerpt shows that chemical pesticides will result in loved ones being taken away. Since they are taken away by a taxi, the song implies that loosing the loved one is completely preventable in the same way living by not playing Russian Roulette is possible. The old Russian guy in the corner named Agribusiness knows the dangers but continues to push the dangerous game of chance. In their article, Kathrine Rugbjerg et al. describe their study where they found a correlation between agricultural work, and by association chemical pesticide exposure, and the development of Parkinson’s Disease (431). From when my grandmother was in the nursing home for nine years, I remember that the residents with Parkinson’s Disease that the disease is a debilitating condition where the person gradually looses fine motor skills and memory, eventually to the point that they can’t get out of bed or even speak. These people basically loose their lives over the span of years, which is painful for not just the person, but also for their family, similar to a group of family members playing Russian Roulette together. Most

agricultural workers have no other option usually; they are overwhelmingly poor with no other options, and therefore they are forced into the game of chance by the old Russian guy in the corner. They are given a death sentence just so the average American can have cheap corn. They are forced into a gamble that they can’t win where the old Russian guy in the corner unbeknownst to the players loaded all the chambers. This situation is the reality of the game which is very similar to how Joni Mitchell portrays it.

Monsanto and other Agribusinesses accurately have the blood of entire communities on their hands according to Mitchell. The diction Mitchell uses in line 31, “big yellow taxi,” accurately depicts how agribusiness is to blame for the chemical pesticide related deaths in many communities. She intentionally left the description of the taxi vague, but she did choose to highlight the fact that taxi is yellow which is most common color of pesticide solutions. I grew up in a small agriculturally based town called Ferdinand, Indiana. I remember from a young age how the farm across from my grandparents house would start the year barren of life and then by the end of summer be completely full and green with life. Corn and soybeans were the most common crop. I also remember the giant tractors and other gargantuan machinery which went through the fields and mist the crops. The other farms around town would also spray at similar times of the year. Due to the wind this spraying would always result in the town smelling like the chemical pesticides which were used by the farms. The area was also deemed a neurological disorder and cancer cluster. The older folks who lived their entire lives in the town experienced soaring rates of these disorders. I remember when my grandmother was in the nursing home, the number of people her age there who had worked and lived on farms their whole lives. Many of these people had developed Alzheimer’s, Parkinson’s, Multiple Sclerosis, and other serious disorders in addition to multiple cancers. When Mitchell references how the conglomerates who make these chemical pesticides are taking away these people’s lives she couldn’t have been more right.

According to Mitchell, the next generation is imprisoned by the chemical pesticides which is accurate. When Joni Mitchell choose to highlight a metaphor in lines 31-32 that, “a big yellow taxi/ come and took away my old man,” she was accurately bringing up that the children of agriculture workers are left alone with no one to help them. For example, R, Mesnage et al. in their article in the British Medical Journal made observations of one family who had 2 children develop birth defects after exposure to multiple pesticides while in utero and described the correlation which had been found between pesticide usage and Stratton-Parker Syndrome-like symptoms (359). While this study may be slightly statistically flawed since it only takes into account one family, it is relevant because the family has no history on either side of Stratton-Parker Syndrome-like symptoms even though it is incredibly rare (359). These children are forced to live the rest of their life in a prison of disability because there father worked in agriculture. The parents aren’t able to help and neither are the doctors because of the nature of these birth defects which result in the boys being excluded from “normal” society. This result goes to show how Mitchell was spot on when she argued that the children of agricultural workers are being imprisoned by disability since current medicine can’t help them which is the sad reality of our world for many agricultural families.

“Big Yellow Taxi” is as relevant as ever towards today’s society with the extensive usage of chemical pesticides like atrazine and glyphosate. Joni Mitchell was able to accurately describe how chemical pesticides are destroying the environment and humanity by creating a toxic environment where nothing can thrive and disrupts the food web through her usage of vague diction and metaphor. Environmental toxins destroy anything inside the environment, including humans, which murders genetic diversity and forges a ticking time bomb for a population collapse. What is better, in the words of Joni Mitchell “spots on my apples” or the extensive death of living things in the toxic environment including humans?

Works Cited

Mesnage, R., E. Clair, J. Spiroux De Vendomois, and G. E. Seralini. “Two Cases of Birth Defects

Overlapping Stratton-Parker Syndrome after Multiple Pesticide Exposure.” Occupational and Environmental Medicine 67.5 (2010): 359. JSTOR. Web. 31 Oct. 2015.

Milius, Susan. “In Field or Backyard, Frogs Face Threats: Amphibians and Other Sensitive

Groups Encounter Chemicals across the Landscape.” Science News 178.6 (2010): 28-29. JSTOR. Web. 31 Oct. 2015.

Mitchell, Joni. “Big Yellow Taxi.” Ladies of the Canyon. Warner Brothers: 1970. M4A.

Relyea, Rick A. “New Effects of Roundup on Amphibians: Predators Reduce Herbicide

Mortality; Herbicides Induce Antipredator Morphology.” Ecological Applications 22.2 (2012): 634-47. JSTOR. Web. 31 Oct. 2015.

Rugbjerg, Kathrine, M. Anne Harris, Hui Shen, Stephen A. Marion, Joseph K. C. Tsui, and Kay

Teschke. “Pesticide Exposure and Risk of Parkinson’s Disease – a Population-based Case–control Study Evaluating the Potential for Recall Bias.” Scandinavian Journal of Work, Environment & Health 37.5 (2011): 427-36. JSTOR. Web. 31 Oct. 2015.

World Wildlife Fund. “How Many Species Are We Loosing?” WWF.org. World Wildlife Fund, 2015. http://wwf.panda.org/about_our_earth/biodiversity/biodiversity/ Web. 31 Oct. 2015.

December 13, 2016January 26, 2018

Less is More: Lessons Learned

When Henry David Thoreau went to live on Walden Pond he famously wrote, “I went to the woods because I wished to live deliberately, to front only the essential facts of life, and see if I could not learn what it had to teach, and not, when I came to die, discover that I had not lived” (158). When Thoreau wrote this passage in the 1860s he was arguing that he didn’t want to become a zombie, just going through life doing what is expected and following what society was telling him to do. Thoreau decided instead to leave the city and move out into the middle of nowhere in order to pay attention to his everyday life for about two years.

Thoreau’s principle in the quote is an ever true lesson for the citizens of the United States today. We are taught from a young age to want the “McMansion” with the “McPool” in the “McBackyard” and the two “McMercedes-Benzes” in the driveway for our future suburban nuclear “McFamily.” We are taught to act like we are the one percent even though we are not. This lifestyle of living outside of our means

is destroying the American society by cannibalizing time, not allowing one to enjoy life, and pushing a “more is always better attitude.” This life is a problem because the average American has become a mindless zombie simply going through life but not actually living.

Photo by Author.

The picture “Concrete Jungle” shows how working over lunch is destroying time. The park looks like something out of a sci-fi movie once humans are gone. The lack of humans is further exaggerated through the overall dark tone making the park seem eerily empty and makes it feel like something bad happened there. The fact that the picture was taken from under an overpass looking onto an open empty field gives an uncomfortably feel by drawing a stark separation from the park and the buildings in the background which are assumed to be full of people. This grand openness is especially used to show an empty park during the mid-day break instead of being filled with people enjoying their lunch time. The image shows the culture of missed opportunities created by overworking, and the emptiness of life when people are overworking just so they can afford to follow.

When I spent the better part of an afternoon walking around in downtown Louisville and surrounding neighborhoods nearly everyone was murdering their time and throwing away the little bit of free time during they day they could enjoy. For instance, I arrived at Riverfront Park during the second half of the average lunch time (11:00 am-1:00 pm). The sky was bright and blue without a cloud in sight; the day was warm but comfortable. The park, however, was calm and nearly barren of other people. The park was still in the same way a graveyard is quiet any day other than Halloween. The park was empty in the same way a medieval village was empty after The Black Death. The plague of overwork created this graveyard at a time when the park could be teeming with people. This graveyard is similar to a one where a family member is buried and then never visited. This analogy is perfect because it shows how the murdering of time by workers downtown is very similar to a disease that disease in the medieval times decimated most of Europe and how after their time is murdered they do nothing to attempt and visit the little time they have left.

Just outside the park the employees downtown were addicted to making money and working like a junkie seeking a high. The people were in bustling office buildings working through their lunches instead of enjoying the natural resource available to them. Once I began to venture into downtown, the few people not in their office buildings were mostly running to their destination, like there was a fire behind them, and using their cellphone which might as well have been surgically implanted onto their hand or onto the side of their head since there was no possible way of removing it from them. These people ranged from those people in suits and ties getting into their Mercedes-Benzes to those people who were in obvious blue collar uniforms waiting at the bus stop. Every one of them was afflicted with the “Crackberry” addiction. This addiction was forcing them to work even outside of their office instead of enjoying the little downtime they had each day. The differences in backgrounds shows the importance of how anyone can be afflicted by overworking in order to present the facade of affluence. This addiction leads to work eating away at time and limiting life’s experiences.

All of these people downtown show troubling signs of overworking to death and being eaten alive by their debt. While studying Japanese, I picked up the word Karōshi, which means to literally overwork until you die. The majority of the downtown workforce was overworking just to pay their bills. The

mean annual wage in the United states during 2014 was a little over $47,000 which is slightly less than the list price of a straight-from-the-factory new Mercedes-Benz E-Class sedan (Bureau of Labor Statistics) (Mercedes-Benz USA). This expensive car is unaffordable for a majority of Americans, yet the average American is told that they can afford it. Average American children are also told that they can afford to take out hundreds of thousands of dollars in loans to go to college, even though there is a tiny chance that they will be able to afford to pay it back. The cycle of debt is completely unsustainable, and eventually the bubble will burst. This debt does nothing but hurt those people who take it out. It digs them deeper and deeper into debt, and they are forced into a cycle of giving up more and more of their time until they die.

Photo by Author.

In the image “Flag, Industry, and Construction,” the object placement shows how movement to the American suburbs started the mindlessly murdering of time and started the attitude of more is always better. The interstate highway system, which is being reconstructed in the photo, was supposed to help speed up everyone’s life. All it really did was increase the commute time as people moved farther from work. This creation then led to the flight of middle class from the affordable housing near the inner city to the more expensive suburbs. Then, as evident by the projects in the background of the photo, the area was then razed, and a metaphorical prison was created to keep those people of lower economic classes stuck. The high concentration of churches in the middle ground and background also are symbolic of how instead of actually helping those people who are disenfranchised, they are preyed upon by people who don’t understand the problems. The societal divide was then further increased as the middleclass folks willing fought their way into the suburbs just to be able to emulate the rich. This divide then led to the spitting contest of who looked more successful even if it meant you had no time left to enjoy what you had.

Wanting the largest house in the neighborhood is an epidemic of masochism. The desire for the seven- bedroom house with ten bathrooms has become pervasive in society. This desire leads to people not only working longer hours so that they can actually afford the house, but they also have to work more just to take care of the house. In 1950, the average American home was just 983 square feet (Adler). In contrast, the average home size in 2013 was 2,598 square feet (Census Bureau). A 2,598 square foot house takes many more resources to maintain than a 983 square foot house, especially when the family in the larger house is smaller. The unused space is proverbially shooting yourself in the foot. This “McMansion” mindset results in mountains of wasted time just taking care of a low-quality status symbol. Time is wasted, so that neighbors intimidate each other, and everyone seems more successful. Society expects everyone strive for material success by amassing more and bigger “stuff” than your neighbor until we have become like a zombie striving for flesh.

Photo by Author.

The image “Flowers,” shows how the drive for success in American society is overly simplified and perverse in destroying the American way of life. When the photographer took the image he wanted the viewers to focus on the flowers in the foreground of the image and used the lens to blur out the rest of the image. This blur and focus is very metaphorical of how everyone strives for material success but they ignore success in other areas of their life including emotional success and happiness. They have become zombies wanting to appear successful and blindly do anything to achieve this illusion. Americans will also focus on one detail, like who has the largest “McMansion” in the neighborhood, but they won’t pay attention to other factors involved, like how that person and their spouse each work 60 hours a week. Instead of actually living their own life, this desire for more and more is creating a mass of mindless zombies who are only there to one-up the people who are around them.

The perverse American culture can be undermined through living tiny. While it would be perfect for everyone to live like Asians, Europeans, and New Yorkers by using public transit, this mode of transportation is depressingly unattainable right now in America; however, living in a tiny house is attainable. A tiny house, is a home which fulfills one’s needs but lacks the superfluous space of most dwellings. For example, most tiny houses are no larger than 100 to 300 square feet and are hand built on utility trailers for one person, a young couple, or family. These houses have also been built out of shipping containers or more traditional techniques. A tiny house is unique, and really determined by the individual and what they want or need, but the biggest point of a tiny house is to have what you need live deliberately. Everything in tiny house must serve some purpose, so mindless status symbols and miscellaneous “stuff” has no place. Once built, they are also unobtrusive and require minimal maintenance, which allows more time to enjoy life. This deliberate living will prevent zombiism since you have to be conscious of your surroundings. You will have time for the rest of your life to happen instead of cannibalizing it away for status.

In an ideal world we would all live in cities near our places of employment and use mass transit or walk to our destinations, but, until this dream becomes a viable reality our best bet is on living tiny and ensuring we live within our means. In the meantime, this unattainable drive for material success is destroying American by cannibalizing time and “making a more is always better” attitude acceptable. So shouldn’t we all listen to Thoreau’s lesson and pay attention to our lives, or are we just going to continue to be zombies?

Works Cited

Adler, Margot. “Behind the Ever-Expanding Dream House.” NPR.org 4 July, 2006. Web. http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=5525283 6 Oct, 2015

Mercedes-Benz USA. “E-Class Sedan.” MBUSA.com 2015.

Web. http://www.mbusa.com/mercedes/vehicles/class/class-E/bodystyle-SDN(http://www.mbusa.com/mercedes/vehicles/class/class-E/bodystyle-SDN) 6 October 2015.

Lee, Merlin. “Concrete Jungle.” 2015. JPEG file.

—. “Flag, Industry, and Construction.” 2015. JPEG file.

—. “Flowers.” 2015. JPEG file.

Thoreau, Henry David. Walden. Public Domain: N.P., 1862. iBooks file.

United States Bureau of Labor Statistics. “May 2014 National Occupational Employment and Wage Estimates United States.” Bls.gov 25 Mar, 2015. Web. http://www.bls.gov/oes/current/oes_nat.htm(http://www.bls.gov/oes/current/oes_nat.htm) 6 Oct, 2015

United States Census Bureau. “Median and Average Square Feet of Floor Area in New Single-Family Houses Completed by Location.” Census.gov, N.P. PDF file. https://www.census.gov/construction/chars/pdf/medavgsqft.pdf(https://www.census.gov/construction/chars/pdf/medavgsqft.pdf) 6 Oct, 2015

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December 12, 2016April 10, 2017

How To: Intriguing Presentation

Speeches. You, as an audience member or presenter, either hate them or you love them. Personally, I hate giving speeches and presentations, but I have learned through experience how to improve mine. I will share my tips for giving a more enjoyable presentation including using presenter notes and the use of multimedia.

The first place to improve your own speeches and presentations is to use speaking notes for topics you are not fluent in. I have several years experience as a chemistry and biology tutor, so there are some topics in those subjects where I am fluent enough to adlib a lesson on the content. I also have a strong background in art when it comes to the background of a few artists like Dalí and van Gough because they are two of my favorite artists or how to work with several mediums because I have years of experience. But, if I had to talk to a room full of people about banking or Frida Kahlo I would not be as comfortable as the other topics. To calm this discomfort I could write down my entire speech and read from a piece of paper,

To calm this discomfort I could write down my entire speech and read from a piece of paper, but that would be boring for everyone who has to listen to my speech. Instead, I can create speaking notes. Speaking notes entail a rough outline of the big things I am going to talk about leaving room for me to embellish when I am giving the speech. Then, when I am giving the speech I can focus on giving it without feeling like I have to follow an exact path, but I have a preplanned route to fall back onto if I forget something. It allows for moments like my, “it’s all the government,” in my example. This technique allows for each speech to be interesting and different.

The second way to make a speech interesting is to turn it into a multimedia presentation. While this is not always feasible, like when I have given outdoor speeches where you’re lucky to have a microphone, but on most occasions you will be inside and able to show images on a screen and have audio for a break. One of the most boring times of my life is when I have to sit and listen to someone talk for a long period of time with nothing else to focus on other than their voice and my notes. I try to be a good audience member but it is hard sometimes, especially if the speaker is being incredibly monotone!

To combat this boredom, incorporating images into a presentation is one of the easiest things to do. I was told at some point that Powerpoint was originally meant to only show images and large visual elements. While I don’t know how true this is, it definitely makes sense. Using a presentation software like Powerpoint, Keynote, or one of the many free versions, images can be shown to a group without killing a small forest of one million trees. By focusing on including images that tie into your presentation and either eliminating words altogether or including them sparsely you can also eliminate your chances of reading off a boring slide covered completely with words.

There are no excuses for giving boring presentations or reading off a page, you have the skills to create an outline and turn a speech into a multimedia presentation so your audience won’t be bored out of their minds. Remember like Smokey says “only you can prevent audience boredom.”

December 11, 2016April 10, 2017

DIY Antique Sketchbook

Have you ever seen the antique-looking sketchbooks or journals at art supply or crafts stores and wanted to buy one? Then, have you looked at the price? These sketchbooks have a high cost and many of them don’t have paper as nice as a more traditional sketchbook. This article was written to teach you how to take an antique book and turn it into a modern sketchbook with high quality sketch paper and the antique look most people love.

Advice on Finding a Book

The best places to find antique books tend to be yard sales, thrift stores, or any kind of used book sale. I personally found the book I used in the demo at a used book sale at my university, but I have seen many older books at various thrift stores and people are always trying to get rid of the books they have in their attics. You just need to make sure the cover and spine is intact and not damaged. These two parts are the whole reason why you are doing this project so I recommend subscribing to the VW Bug restoration rule. There are plenty of inexpensive antique books that are in perfect condition, so unless it is special to you I recommend not using a book that is in bad shape.

Finally, when choosing a book make sure you don’t use a first edition. On the library of congress page there should be printing information and if this page says “first edition” don’t use it for this project. If you do come across a first edition book in good condition it is wisest to purchase the book and then sell it on the internet; there is a huge group of people who are willing to pay large amounts of money for a first edition book of any kind, so become an entrepreneur make money off of this market.