Blog 9

1) What are you most stressed-out with at the moment? Why? Is your body re-acting to this stress? Devise a plan to deal with it.

The thing that i am the most stressed out about at the moment is the fact that i have a major Anatomy exam tomorrow and i really hope i pass it with flying colors. It's crucial I get an A on it so i can be well on my way to my 4.0 goal. My body is not really reacting to it because i am not getting headaches or anything like that.

2) FFN: Chapter 8 / This is a creative writing exercise! Read the following scenario and finish it based on your knowledge after reading Chapter 8. You are "Raul" and have just immigrated to the American West illegally from Mexico. You brought your wife and two young children with you on a frightening and expensive 4-day journey in the back of a beat-up truck to arrive in Texas. You can't find work there and Border Patrol is cracking down, so you decide to migrate north a bit where you have relatives in Colorado. You are hired on the spot by ConAgra to work in one of their "beef processing" plants. -Describe in sensory detail your place of employment. (What's it look like, what is going on, how do people act, what do you wear, what is your job? etc..)-How much $$$ do you earn?-How do your days go? What are your work hours and what do you do after work?-Where do you live, what do you live in, how is your quality of life?



The plant is very large and smells of death. I can smell the cut slabs of meat from cattle being processed in the assembly line. Many workers are constantly cutting each piece smaller and smaller when it reaches to each individual post. They start off with a large half of a cow and rip away the bones. It is a disgusting and degrading place to work. No breaks are allowed and we are working for only about 4o cents an hour. Just last week, a fellow co worker got his hand lacerated in a large meat slicing unit. It was a deep cut, and the bosses made him keep working, until it was to the point where it wouldn't stop bleeding and they were forced to replace him. He was not allowed to come back when he was sent to the hospital. A new guy took his place and is doing the same shit he was doing. We all wear the same uniform; just blue old rag-like unis. My job during this miserable job is to bash the cattle in the head when they are being prepared for slaughter. It is a horrible thing for me to do, but I must do this to support my family.

I typically earn about 50 to 75 cents an hour because of what i do. However it's definitely not enough to support my family and it's a downtrodden situation at this point. I never have good days unless a raise is put in place up 5 cents, but that doesn't really happen. My work hours suck since i typically work about 12 hours a day with no breaks for not very much. It is a difficult and stressing job and I hate it with a passion. Usually after work, I go home and sleep for awhile and then ponder how the hell I'm suppose to keep doing this and make it in the real world. My family and I are currently living in a small house (if you want to call it that) just outside of Colorado Springs. We struggle for food and my job is the only thing keeping us from complete poverty. It is miserable and wish things could be different. We are all miserable here, but we have no choice. Living in the middle of nowhere is not the best thing for me or my family and things will hopefully change in the future if U.S. doesn't collapse first....if the U.S. falls...our quality of life will just drop to one step above being slaves....