Monday morning began pretty well as most of us woke up around 9, opposed to around 7 the day before. Because it is a holiday (MLK day, Holla!), our group did not have many interesting plans today. In the morning, we slowly ate our food and briefly discussed about lucid dreaming before heading out to do our grocery shopping. When we got to Western Beef (because apparently that’s an acceptable grocery store name), we split up into groups and bought all the food we needed for the next two days. Then we proceeded to walk home, lugging groceries in our bare hands while having to deal with 20 degree weather and a 20 mph wind.
After creating a simple yet delicious meal of grilled cheese and tomato soup, the group discussed the subtle racism presently occurring across America. While most violent and obvious racism (like slavery, segregation) has dissipated, subtle racism is still occurring in the United States. Common examples include minorities being stopped by police at a much higher rate than whites. Shortly after, we began to watch Morgan Spurlock’s Elderly Care documentary. The short movie demonstrates the importance of taking care of the elderly, especially through interaction with family and friends. When the movie ended, we had a brief discussion that turned into an in-depth and deep conversation about politics, namely issues with the division of money due to capitalism.
For dinner, we had tacos, muy delicioso. Then, we accompanied Professor Root to meet one of his former students at a nearby diner, which turned out to be a very intriguing experience. Dessert was amazing, see picture of Mara below. During the next few days, I hope that we, as a team through the topics discussed today, will develop a better sense at what helping the elderly really means.
-Chris