Quotation:

“Aroma and memory are somehow inextricably linked. A smell can suddenly evoke a long-forgotten moment. The flavors of childhood foods seem to leave an indelible mark, and adults often return to them, without always knowing why. These ‘comfort foods’ become a source of pleasure and reassurance, a fact that fast food chains work hard to promote. Childhood memories of Happy Meals can translate into frequent adult visits to McDonald’s, like those of the chain’s ‘heavy users,’ the customers who eat there four or five times a week.”[1]

Talking Point:

                It’s surprising how much fast food chains pick up on the subtle factors that shape human behavior, such as smells and childhood memory. Many of their commercials and advertising are even modified to appeal to kids.

Connection:

                I remember talking about favorite foods with a group of kids back when I was younger. I always said I loved spaghetti because I loved the smell of the house when my mom made Italian food. Many of my friends or even younger kids would often say hamburgers because they ate at fast food restaurants a lot.

            “…at Wal-Mart, a coworker once advised me that, although I had a lot to learn, it was also important not to ‘know too much,’ or at least never to reveal one’s full abilities to management, because ‘the more they think you can do, the more they’ll use you and abuse you.’ My mentors in these matters were not lazy; they just understood that there are few or no rewards for heroic performance. The trick lies in figuring out how to budget your energy so there’ll be some left over for the next day.”[1]

Talking Point:

            This quote perfectly illustrates how quickly someone can turn to exploitation in order to get more out of someone else. In the case of low-wage workers, employers can get away with a lot of abuse since their workers really need their job.

                “Roberta, a bustling platinum-haired woman of sixty or so, tells me there’s nothing wrong with my ‘app’;…She can offer me a job now, but first a little ‘survey,’ on which there are no wrong or right answers, she assures me, just whatever I think…Roberta takes it off to another room, where, she says, a computer will ‘score’ it. After about ten minutes, she’s back with alarming news: I’ve gotten three answers wrong – well, not exactly wrong but in need of further discussion.

                Now, my approach to preemployment personality tests has been zero tolerance vis-à-vis the obvious ‘crimes’ – drug use and theft – but to leave wriggle room elsewhere, just so it doesn’t look like I’m faking out the test. My approach was wrong. When presenting yourself as a potential employee, you can never be too much of a suck-up.”[1]

Talking Point:

                It’s disappointing to see that companies really only accept the application surveys that have all the “right” answers on them. It’s as if the companies encourage dishonesty by preferring that applicants put all the correct answer even if the person doesn’t agree with what they’re putting down. For an individual to be honest, he would have to appear in person to fill out the survey and then explain his answers, an option that is not provided with online applications.

Connection:

                My grandfather, I call him Opa, once had a cockatiel named “Petey.” Unlike Ehrenreich, my opa was not afraid of the bird and would allow Petey to climb all over his head and shoulder

                “I make an effort to learn names: Marguerite, who arrives in the dining room clutching a teddy bear and wearing nothing but a diaper below the waist; Grace, who tracks me with an accusing stare and demands that her cup be refilled even when it hasn’t been touched; Letty, a diabetic who has to be watched because she sneaks doughnuts from other people’s plates. Ruthie, who softens her French toast by pouring orange juice over it and much of the table, is one of the more with-it gals. She asks my name…”[1]

Connection:

                Over the summer, I volunteered at a Nursing Home. The way Ehrenreich describes the environment at the home is surprisingly similar to how the conditions actually are.

                “…I was raised by the absurd Booker T. Washington precept that says: If you’re going to do something, do it well. In fact, ‘well’ isn’t good enough by half. Do it better than anyone has ever done it before. Or so said my father, who must have known what he was talking about because he managed to pull himself, and us with him, up from the mile-deep copper mines of Butte to the leafy suburbs of the Northeast, ascending from boilermakers to martinis before booze beat out ambition. As in most endeavors I have encountered in my life, ‘doing it better than anyone’ is not a reasonable goal. Still, when I wake up at 4 A.M. in my own cold sweat, I am not thinking about the writing deadlines I’m neglecting; I’m thinking of the table where I screwed up the order and one of the kids didn’t get his kiddie meal until the rest of the family had moved on to their Key lime pies.”[1]

Talking Point:

                It’s interesting how the mindset has changed over the years from wanting to do one’s very best in everything aspect of a job to, now, just getting everything done marginally, with little consideration given to the excellence of one’s performance.

Connection:

                This book reminds me of the film documentary, “Supersize Me!”, where an ordinary man decides to leave behind his simple dietary life and live off of nothing but McDonald’s fast food in order to research and document the effect of junk food on the body.

                “Father, in the name of Jesus, we come at You, our Lord, saying, ‘Thank you.’ Thank you for being so kind with Your mercy, Your love, and Your grace. Father, as we wade through the water, my mind thought about the song that my old ancestors used to sing, what I was raised up on. Father, as I walk through that water, all I could say was, ‘Lord, wading in the water, wading in the water, God’s gonna trouble the water.’ Father, you troubled that water for our protection and I want to thank you, Lord, I want to thank you for bringing us through that water. And as we wade, God, you was there bringing us over to destiny. And, God, you so loving-kind and merciful we thank you for it, Master. And Jesus name we pray, amen, amen, and amen.”[1]

Talking Point:

                It’s interesting how Spike Lee started off Act Three with a prayer. But the prayer is rather profound. The woman praying is actually thanking God for “troubling the water.” She is able to see how God’s mercy, love, and grace saved her life and she is wise enough to see how this storm helped New Orleans prepare for future storms.

Connection:

When I volunteered at Connor Prairie, I was familiar with the songs that the slaves sang. This one song was one of them. Also, when I led a youth camp in Mancelona, Michigan, we taught the kids this song to get them moving in the morning!

                “You know, I voted for Nagin, and I think he was just confounded by the tremendous import of the problem…he should have gotten his people out of the city faster, but what else is he going to do but put them in the Superdome and the Convention Center. The pictures of these poor people with nothing to eat and without their clothes and people looting the city, I don’t think he contributed to all that. It’s easy in hind sight to say what you would have done under the same or similar circumstances.”[1]

                “I don’t care what the political relationship is between a governor or a mayor. When there’s a crisis, like a hurricane crisis or a weather crisis, all political B.S. has to go to the side.”[2]

                “The Hotel The Hyatt is located right next to the Superdome. We’re actually called The Hyatt Regency New Orleans at Louisiana Superdome. We were right in the vicinity but it was like being miles away because there was water and everything else separating us from the folks at the dome. They evacuated all the folks from the dome, probably about 40,000 people, through the Hyatt, and we had no idea what to expect. The day that the folks were going to be evacuated from the dome through the hotel, I found out about it and I was told that I would have National Guard, State, and Local Police to do the security…So we were on our way to go and speak to this Major, State Police. When I saw this brother in a uniform…I said, ‘Excuse me, Sir.’ I said, ‘Are you with the National Guard?’ He said, ‘Yes I am.’ I said, ‘Well, listen. This is what I need. Man, I’ve got a problem…’ and I just started going off, right? And the brother said, ‘Wait a second. Stop. Take a deep breath. Tell me what it is you want me to do. Tell me what I can do for you.’ …He said, ‘Mr. Banks,’ he said, ‘ will this do?’ So, I…gave him a hug and I had to call my ma because I saw the significance. I never told you his name. You know what his name was? Captain Christian. His name was Captain Christian…If he sees this, Captain Christian, I owe you one. Thank you, brother, thank you! He looked out, man, and it was just the idea when I told my ma she said the same thing. She said, ‘Boy, Lord have mercy! God is good!’”[3]

Talking Point:

It’s fascinating how people still blame President Bush for almost everything that went wrong with the response to Hurricane Katrina. It seems and though people would want to focus on how to prevent and solve future crises instead of constantly focusing on the wrongs of the past.

[2] Lee, Spike; When the Levees Broke: A Requiem in Four Acts; Interview with Marc Morial

[3] Lee, Spike; When the Levees Broke: A Requiem in Four Acts; Interview with Gralen B. Banks

“We were vacationing in Italy at the time. It was on a Monday morning and the driver picked us up from a hotel…and said, ‘Would you like to go see the ruins of Pompeii?’ And we got in the limousine and they took us over to right up outside of Naples…and Mount Vesuvius was in the background. And that morning we went in to visit the ruins of Pompeii. And we didn’t know anything at all about the flood strike in New Orleans. We saw dead people lined up back in 66 A.D. We learned about 6,000 people being smothered to death with the ashes of Mt. Vesuvius. We saw all the things that were preserved. We walked out of the ruins of Pompeii and, it’s most ironic, we sat down, having a little lunch in the little square, the little town there. And they turned on CNN and they could see the flood in New Orleans. And I think the mayor said a possibility of 10,000 people drowning. And, you know, it’s quite ironic to be in a place like this where the greatest tragedy that ever happened in Europe and see your own city being flooded.”[1]

            “I will say, though, in the backdrop of it all, and I want to say this, is that I think that there’s one agency that we should single out for a job well done, and that’s the United States Coast Guard. They moved in very quickly. They were in there on Tuesday. They did numerous, very difficult helicopter and boat rescue operations.” [2]

            “They had this brother named Radio. Kind of big brother, you know, he was a spiritual brother, too, you know. And he started clapping it up, you know, like for basketball games where the people are just like, you know, clapping it up and warming it up. It just was a spirit; it was a big, big, big spirit. And this was one of the proud moments, you know, for us because, you know, as you started clapping it up, you know, people just started shouting out praises. It was like we out to do something.”

“We went around the dome and we started singing, ‘This little light of mine, I’m gonna let it shine.’ …And it was powerful because it was a sad time. You didn’t know what was going to happen but you only had faith in God, you know. And we gave Him the glory and we marched around the dome and people was coming from the inside of the dome and they was joining in. And after we marched around one time, we go on the outside. At that time, I felt the movement, like the Civil Rights movement, but it was real powerful. It’s like powerful when you watch a movement like that. After that march, you know, things kind of settled a little bit.”[3]

Talking Point:

I thought it was admirable and honorable how both ordinary people and several different nations performed above and beyond their abilities in rescuing people or supporting those who had already been rescued.

Connection:

When all the people at the Superdome broke out in praise songs, it reminded me of when the slaves would sing spiritual songs while suffering in their harsh conditions, unifying and uplifting their souls.

[2] Lee, Spike; When the Levees Broke; A Requiem in Four Acts; Interview with Marc Morial

[3] Lee, Spike; When the Levees Broke; A Requiem in Four Acts; Interview with Shelton Shakespear Alexander

“We both know how to swim but Jahiya’s the better swimmer than I am. And I talked to her about if the storm starts hitting we find ourselves in the water and having to swim, if she could get to safety and if I was trailing behind her, to keep going, don’t worry about me, get herself to safety. And she said, ‘Mom, you know I wouldn’t leave you,’ you know, because we knew it was a life or death situation. The potential danger, the threat of the storm, was enormous.”[1] 

“In 1965, during hurricane Betsy, there was an intentional dynamite of the levees and that caused the lower ninth ward to flood. People were on their roofs. Several people lost their lives. They dynamited the levees and flooded the lower ninth ward in order to save some of the more expensive property in the lakefront area.”[2] 

“During hurricane Betsy, there were rumors, and it became almost an article of faith with people in the community, that the ninth ward flooded because there was an intentional breach of the levee. It was never investigated; it was neither proven nor disproven. In this case, for the government and others to sort of dismiss it without looking into all of it is not doing the people or the public a service.”[3]

“President Hoover, in 1947 in a famous speech about engineers, said, he said that engineering is a great profession. He said, but engineers, you know, we build stuff. He said politicians may put their name on it but we can’t deny that we did it. He said an engineer is unlike a doctor who can bury his mistakes. He said an engineer is not like a politician who can blame it on his opponent on the opposite side of the aisle or hope that the public forgets. He said an engineer is not like a lawyer who can blame it on a judge or try to argue their way. He said an engineer is unlike an architect who can hide his mistakes with trees and shrubbery. He said when an engineer makes a mistake, he is damned because his mistake is there for the world to see.”[4]

Talking Point:

I think it’s interesting how the government never actually looked into the breaking of the levees during Hurricane Betsy. Because of the absence of solid facts, the people rumored that the government bombed the levees, an explanation that could possibly be true.

Connection:

If the levees had actually been bombed during Hurricane Betsy, than the reasons would be similar to those in Savage Inequalities, where the richer upper class takes precedence over the poorer lower class; the saving of the wealthier properties takes priority over the saving of every life.

[2] Lee, Spike; When the Levees Broke: A Requiem in Four Acts; Interview with Gina Montana

[3] Lee, Spike; When the Levees Broke: A Requiem in Four Acts; Interview with Marc Morial

[4] Lee, Spike; When the Levees Broke: A Requiem in Four Acts; Interview with Calvin Mackie

“This is a very popular approach in the United States today. Don’t provide the kids with a new building. Don’t provide them with more teachers or more books or more computers. Don’t even breathe a whisper of desegregation. Keep them in confinement so they can’t subvert the education of the suburbs. Don’t permit them ‘frills’ like art or poetry or theater. Carry a bat and tell them they’re no good if they can’t pass the state exam. Then, when they are ruined, throw them into prison. Will it surprise you to be told that Paterson destroyed a library because it needed space to build a jail?”[1]

Talking Point:

Once a group of students is made lower than others they are stuck. As the cycle continues, it gets worse and worse until the education process is more of a burden than a privilege. How are kids expected to learn when they are taught by teachers who don’t care in an environment that hinders their education?

Connection:

In Camden, New Jersey, many large companies that were established in the town suddenly moved out. In Mancelona, Michigan, something similar took place. Mancelona used to be a mining town where everything in the town was centered around the business. Almost overnight, the business decided to move out, leaving the town in ruins. To this day, Mancelona is one of the poorest communities in America.