Project Space Reflection

Project Space Reflection

            The place that I decided to analyze was Whole Foods. The reason I choose this place was because I was not familiar with it and it made me uncomfortable because of the subculture it had and I felt that if I was not familiar with the place I would have a different perspective and I did. What interested me about this place was how it is only being placed in higher income communities than lower income communities. I personally do not a personal connection to it but my sister shops there so I had some of her input in my presentation. How I researched my place was by finding out the history on their Whole Foods home page and going to my location and exploring the market.

             My writing process for project Space was different from Project Web due the fact that in space I felt like I had much more of better understanding because we had to go an observe our space than in web where it was more research to be done than analysis. How Project Web and Space are the same was that I still have do have an opinion in order to support my thesis and we have to present to the class like in Project Web but now alone.

            My writing processed has changed a bit I feel like now instead of writing a rough draft and a final draft this time I wrote two rough drafts and a final. How I began writing my essay was looking for the history of the place I was observing then when I knew a little bit  about the place I went to observe it. I did not procrastinate I felt like I was on time with the due dates and I even had an extra weekend to rewrite my first draft. The easiest part about writing this essay was that we had to give a lot of descriptive detail and I felt like I accomplished that in my essay. The most difficult part for me was making my essay longer but when we had a group discussion in office hours I wrote many notes down and when I went home I reread them and I fixed my essay and added more things and my essay got longer.

Project Space: Final

Whole Foods Market

            Superior, Vallarta, and El Super are the types of markets that are being placed in low-income communities. Whole Foods, Ralphs, Trader Joe's and other markets are being placed in middle class communities and owning class communities. The purpose of Whole Foods Market is to, "improve agriculture system, improve world health, ending poverty, and promoting conscious capitalism" stated John Mackey Co-CEO of Whole Foods. Although Whole Foods Market provides organic choices, they are only being placed in wealthy communities that tend to be doing better than low income communities.

            Whole Foods Market started out in Austin, Texas by four people who took the step into turning the natural food industry into a market, "John Mackey and Renee Lawson Hardy were owners of Safer Way Natural Food and Craig Weller and Mark Skiles, owners of Clarksville Natural Grocery"(Whole Foods Market History). The first Whole Foods Market to ever open was in 1980 and they started with 19 staff members and became very successful. In 1984, Whole Foods started to expand from Austin, Houston, Dallas, and New Orleans. It was all possible due to the purchase of the Whole Foods Company in 1988. In 1989, they expanded to the West Coast, opening a store in California. Whole Foods Market has expanded throughout more states in the United States, Canada, The United Kingdom, and there are more stores in development. (Whole Foods Market History)

            There are about over 70 locations in California alone. The Whole Foods that is closest to my apartment in Northridge is the one in Porter Ranch, which is about 10 minutes away. When driving up to the location I noticed that the neighborhood is very wealthy, it has many gated communities in the perimeter of the store and a country club right across the street. The Whole Foods is located in a Plaza called Porter Plaza that consist of Creative Leap, Fine Wine and Liquors, Pet Grooming and Supplies, Dance Studio, Graikos, Beauty Centre, Ups Store, Le Salon Complete, and Subway .When driving into the parking lot I noticed that there were expensive cars in the lot. This exemplifies how Whole Foods Market is placed in Porter Plaza for a reason because it consisted of a wealthy community. Geographers that work for the Whole Foods Corporation have placed store locations according to class because a Whole Foods will do better in a richer community than a lower community will. It is all about location and the corporation has nailed it.

             When I walked into the store, the first thing I noticed were the tables where people can sit down to enjoy a good book or enjoy the lunch that they have just purchased from the buffet inside. When you look around in the store, you see that it is very organized and it smells like fresh fruit. The décor in there is very peaceful and has bright colors such as greens, yellows, and oranges everywhere, welcoming customers. What stand out in the store are the green and brown logos all around the store and on the shopping bags that say 'Whole Foods'. The green colors in the store makes people think of vegetables, organic food, and healthy eating and the brown makes people think of mother nature and the soil that nurtures the fruit and vegetables. When you walk around in Whole Foods there are many samples given so the customer can enjoy the free food and maybe purchase the items. The store does not just sell groceries; they sell from organic vitamins to diapers and necessities one may need when going to the grocery store. They also have a pizza parlor where you can get fresh baked pizza and a buffet where one may choose what they want to eat and pay for it at the checkout.

            The people who shop there are people who want to eat healthier and organic. Many vegans go there to shop because Whole Foods is one of the places that offer vegan choice. My sister shops there because she is vegan and this store provides a variety of vegan choices there is even a whole freezer aisle with vegan choices. The majority of the people that I saw that were shopping there were Caucasian and a few colored people who worked there. The people who shop at Whole Foods shop there not just because they need food but also that this market provides organic, vegan, and healthy choices to the customer. It may not be cheap but it is one of the healthiest places to grocery shop because mostly everything is organic.

            When I first went to a Whole Foods, I was amazed because it was very different from where I usually shop in Los Angeles. The difference is that Whole Foods was not as crowded, it was very organized, it had a buffet, it was mostly organic, there were samples, and the prices were much more expensive. I grew up in Boyle Heights where the majority is Mexican-American and everyone there is working class. The super markets where I live are more Mexican based like Superior, Vallarta, and El Super and I sometimes shop at Food 4 Less because it is not that expensive. Whole Foods is open for the public, but I feel like it is for the community that lives close, which are rich people. The store is located in rich communities where people can afford organic, vegan, and gluten free food than opposed to a single working mother who has low income and cannot afford to be healthy. Although Whole Foods is helping obesity by providing healthier choices it is harder for low- income communities to have the same choices if a heather choice is not provided. They would not put Whole Foods in a location where everyone pays with EBT or where no one could  shop there because it is overly priced and they have a budget. Not that people who are struggling with money cannot afford it, but I know my mom would not buy fifteen items at Whole Foods that would cost her sixty dollars she would prefer to go to a cheaper alternative like El super and buy 100 dollars of market that lasts up to 2 weeks.

            Even though Whole Foods are being placed in, wealthier communities I feel that Whole Foods should still be able to be places in low-income communities. Although, the company may not do as well they should still provide healthy alternatives to lower income communities. It may be hard for people to afford organic food but I know people will be willing to shop there if they know they need to be healthier. Eventually maybe if a Whole foods or a healthier alternative would be put in a low income community maybe the percentage of obesity would decrease in these communities.

                                                                Works Cited

"Whole Foods Market History." WholeFoods.com. 2013. Whole Foods Market IP.LP. Web. March 27,2013.

Project Space Fieldwork

Whole Foods Market

            The place I decided to do my fieldwork was at Whole Foods Market. This weekend I decided to go to Whole Foods with my sister who shops there, which is located in Porter Ranch a 10 minute drive from our apartment in Northridge. When driving up to the location, I noticed that the neighborhood was very wealthy with many gated communities in the perimeter of the store and a country club right across the street from Whole Foods. You even notice that in the parking lot there are very expensive cars so you know that it is a owning class neighborhood. When you walk into the store, you see tables where you can sit at and enjoy your food from the buffet inside or even to take a rest from all the shopping. When you look around into the store you see that it is very organized and it smells like fresh fruit. The décor in there is very peaceful and has bright colors everywhere welcoming customers. When you walk around in Whole Foods there are many samples that giving so the customer can enjoy the free food and maybe purchase the item. The store does not just sell groceries they sell organic vitamins to diapers and necessities one may need when going to the grocery. From fine Blue Cheese to expensive wine. They also have a pizza parlor where you can get fresh baked pizza and a buffet where one may choose what they want to eat and pay for it at the checkout. When I was walking out I also noticed a board of an African American women in Africa and there was many items that one would be able to purchases and the proceeded would go to the children in Africa to better them in education and give them money for better food.

            The people that I saw that were shopping was majority Caucasian and a couple of colored people who worked there. I feel like the people who shop there is not just, because they need food I believe it is because this market provides organic, vegan, and healthy choices to the customer. It may not be cheap but it is one of the healthiest places to shop at because mostly everything is organic. This corporation was started in 1980 by two white males and now has expended to a large corporation all over the United States. You can tell when you enter the store that many people are very comfortable with the place shopping at ease and knowing where everything is. When I first went there, I was amazed because it was very different from where I usually shop in Los Angeles. The difference is that Whole Foods was not as crowded, it was very organized, it had a buffet, it was mostly organic, there were samples, and the prices were much more expensive.

            Personally, I chose Whole Foods because I wanted to choose a place where I felt uncomfortable and this was a perfect place to choose because I do not shop there. The reason why I felt uncomfortable was that I feel like I do not belong due to my subculture. I grew up in Boyle Heights where the majority is Mexican-American and everyone there is working class. The super markets where I live are more Mexican based like Superior, Vallarta, and El Super and I sometimes shop at Food 4 Less because it is not that expensive. Whole Foods is open for the public but I feel like it is mostly based for the community that lives close, which are richer people. The store is placed in richer communities where people can afford organic, vegan, and gluten free food then opposed to a single working mother who has low income and cannot afford to be healthy.

Project Web Reflection

Project Web Reflection

            In project web the group topic that we chose for our blog was inform society of the problems that are involved with technology and social media. My subtopic was, "Does social media and texting affect people's grammar?" The reason I picked the topic that I chose was because I saw how social media and texting was affecting people's grammar and I wanted to educate my class and people who read my blog. Also showing people that they should not depend on social media and texting lingo because when it comes to the real world they are the ones who are going to look dumb when they cannot write a sentence. What I learned with the research I did was that students are so busy on social media and texting that they are not focusing on their education. I also found out that a university in Canada gave students a reading and comprehension test and 1/3 kids failed and they blamed social media That is an example how social media has affected out younger generation.

            I felt that my writing process has changed from last semester. I felt like I have grown and I learned how to analyze my work much better than last semester. Through this project, I felt that the easiest thing to do was to analyze the research I found because I could relate my research to my own person experience. The easy part of this project was working with a group I felt like the group I had was very hard working and were easy to talk to and work together. The hardest part of this project was looking for research I struggled finding information on the online database. Even though I had some struggle in this project I felt that my project was very successful and my group did an amazing job. 

Freewrite Reflection

            In Project Web the research that I have found are articles in my Beyond Words book and an article from the Internet that I found on the Pen State Website. The research that I still need to accomplish is getting articles from the CSUN Library database, a multimedia source that may include a video or picture, and an article from a traditional book. The sources that I will find will be very reliable and if I am not sure, I will ask my Professor for help. In order for me to complete my project the steps that I still need to reach are finding more resources so I can have many resources and strong evidence in my final paper.

Yes, People Still Read, But Now It's Social by Steven Johnson

      The article I choose to discuss is "Yes, People Still Read, But Now It's Social" by Steven Johnson the reason I picked this article is because it somewhat relates to to my topic which is how social media affects peoples grammar. This article is about how some people read books on a Kindle but Mr.Carr's who is the author of, "The Shallows" states, "These distraction comes with heavy cost..scientific studies show how multitasking harms our concentration"(427). Due to social media such as Twitter,Facebook,and YouTube etc. being used all at once people are less likely to be able to focus. People who multitask more are going to be faced with certain challenges in school when they are not going to be able to concentrate in their studies. According to a study they found out that, "Heavy multitasking performed about about 10 to 20 percent worse on most test than light multitasking"(427). So it is true that Social media is making us dumber, people may read books on Kindle and might be happy that they are reading a book but Mr.Carr's concern is that people are not thinking with a high-level mind set and people are reading pages on a screen. I feel like if society is going to depend on the internet eventually people will stop talking in complete and full sentences and will start using acronyms and that will affect peoples grammar when they are trying to write in a profession way.

Vocabulary

predisposition(n)- Hold a particular attitude, or act in a particular way

perpetual(adj.)-Never ending or changing.

introspection(n)-Contemplation of one's own thoughts, feelings, and sensations; self-examination.

denunciation(n)-The action of informing against someone

undulating(v)- Moving with a smooth wavelike motion

inundated(v)-Overwhelm (someone) with things or people to be dealt with 

sedate(adj.) Calm, dignified, and unhurried.