Social Awareness Project

SOCIAL AWARENESS WRITING PROJECT

A JOURNEY BY

JEREMY GOLDSTEIN 812

#8: Observing your Surroundings

Jeremy Goldstein

Things I’ve noticed that are unfair:

1. Homeless person sleeping on bench

2. Hurricane Sandy relief ads everywhere

3. Old women being honked out in the middle of the street

4. Smoking, smoking all around

5. Lots of people carrying McDonalds bags

6. Videos of child soldiers (in ELA)

7. Cheaper foods are mostly unhealthy. Healthy food costs a lot

8. Ads onTV feature animal adoptions

9. Ads on radio feature fast food places

10. Garbage cans are overflowing with trash

            If you walk into an average deli, the first thing you might see is 100 of bottles of Arizona Iced Tea for $1. Maybe you’ll see rows and rows of honey buns for 50 cents, or even a ginormous bag of potato chips for a miniscule $1.50. This has to change. These foods are stacked in calories and fats. This contributes to the obesity problem in America.  You have to compare these foods to healthier options for each. A protein shake is $3; a small bag of trail mix is $2, and a granola bar is $2.50. When kids, especially my age, want a snack and something to drink, they’ll choose the cheaper, unhealthier option.

            There are many things wrong with having a sugar and fat filled diet. One slightly less obvious one is that if you eat foods like this at school, it will carry over to your whole diet. Then everything is unhealthy for you. Also, eating foods like chips and candy isn’t just sickly, but they also rob from the nutrients you’d get from foods like fruits or dairy. I think this proves that the obesity problem in America isn’t only about the fast food industry, but also cheaper unhealthy snacks.

            Many things can be done to end this snacking bonanza. Bloomberg tried to take one step by banning drink sizes over 16oz. This is progress. I hope that the government could continue to limit the sizes of certain drinks and potentially eliminate them. Snacks too.

#9: Interview

Me: Hi Dad good afternoon.

Dad: Oh, good afternoon.

Me: What do you do Dad?

Dad: I work on Internet video technology for Viacom.

Me: Could you be more specific?

Dad: I select the technology we use to put video on our websites like mtv.com. I also work with the government on regulations for Internet Video.

Me: Could you tell me about your role with the CVAA act?

Dad: Sure. First off, the FCC (Federal Communications Commission) CVAA stands for the twenty-first century Communications and Video Accessibility Act. Many deaf people can put closed captioning on their TV’s, but in an age with the Internet these people want this same coverage online. Blind people also want Internet video to be audio so they can hear it and find out important events. Imagine if you were blind and you were watching something on TV in which someone walked into the room. How would you know? Narrators now spread information.

Me: What if there’s emergency information on the bottom of the screen? During Sandy there were many key points about evacuation.

Dad: Another aspect of the law was requiring that emergency information be accessible. Now the emergency information has to be audio and visual.

Me: Could you tell me about how this act was passed?

Dad: Advocacy groups teamed up with congressmen to get a law written and get it passed. Obama strongly supported this law and he signed it.

Me: Any other notes about the law?

Dad: The law required that the government, the industry, and community groups work together to work out the details of making the law into reality.

Me: So blind and deaf people are now happier?

Dad: Of course they’re much happier but also safer thanks to the emergency information.

            I analyzed this interview and noticed that this is a form of discrimination. My Dad fought for their rights by helping make the law work. Blind people and deaf people have the right to keep up with modern technology, and using the Internet is one of the most popular hobbies of people in the world. I’m honored to have my father as my father. Not only does he help shape laws like these, he enjoys doing it. My father is truly a great person.

            On a side note, the National Association for the Deaf sued Netflix for not having closed captioning. In fact, on the lawsuit, the Deaf association claimed that it was discrimination.

#11: Dramatic Scene

Scene 1

Darkness. Felipe Lopez is sitting in his room without heat, lighting, and limited food and water in a NYCHA house in Brooklyn. It’s a week after the superstorm hit. He’s just dialed 311 on a cell phone that been long saved for this situation with just a sliver of battery. It has just been snowing, and Felipe couldn’t afford a coat. He’s severely shivering.

Felipe (coughing and sneezing)

Hello… Yes, there’s no light. I’m shaking as you say this… Yeah, yeah, I don’t really need that. I neeeed food, I neeeed water, I neeeed electri (swallow) city. (click, hangs up)

Felipe (depressingly)

Ohhh (shakes back and forth).

Felipe rolls over on his side, only to find out that his hair is now covered in a coat of pee.

Felipe

I don’t even care. 311 doesn’t care. Does anyone even care?

Felipe reaches for his phone to dial 311.

311

Good afternoon, how can I be of service?

Felipe

GET ME OUT OF HERE!

311

I’m sorry. Please call again. (click)

Felipe redials.

311

Hi, my name is Martha, how can I help?

Felipe

GET ME OUT OF HERE!

311

Where are you located, sir?

Felipe

I’m trapped in a…

Felipe looks at his phone, only to realize that it’s just run out of battery.

Felipe (mocking)

I’m sorry. Please call again.

Felipe’s eyes catch a pistol on the floor.

Felipe

Should I, or should I not?

            I got my inspiration for writing this depressing scene from an article in the Daily News, A Living Hell in NYCHA House. In that article, Jose Reyes is still without power in his Red Hook home, and he has osteoporosis so he can’t even get down the 13 flights of stairs. Finally, the Daily News helped his sisters deliver food and water all the way up the stairs to him. It made me realize how lucky I am.

            What also gave me inspiration to write this was the fact that I took a playwriting course in Drama last year. Mr. McEneny helped me learn a lot about not only the format for writing plays but also good basic ideas about writing. It’s really made writing short scenes a piece of cake.