Food and Me (2.0)

Food should be simple. It fills your belly. It gives you energy. It keeps you alive. But it’s so much more than just that. Food is the one constant in your life. It’s the one relationship that will literally last a lifetime, growing and developing as you do. Some people have a more…dysfunctional relationship with food. I count myself in that group of people.
~
I run into the house with years streaming down my face. I am young - 7 or 8 at most. My mother comes running downstairs at the sound of my cries. She pulls me into her arms, and then leads me to the sink. I sniff as tears stream down my face. She gently rinses the gravel from the scrape on my wrist. I wince and struggle, but she holds me firm as she runs cold water over the wound. When she's satisfied she turns off the water and wipes away my tears. She asks me what happened and I get out something about falling from my bike before I start crying again. She shushes me and gives me another hug. She directs me to the couch and turns in the tv. She leaved, and when she returns she holds a big bowl of ice cream. I gladly accept, and the moment I take the first bite, the scrape starts to hurt a bit less.
~
I'm 16 and starting to break under the pressures of school. It's 2 am and I run down to the kitchen after a particularly bad fight with one of my friends. I grab a bowl and some ice cream and sit alone in the dark. The ice cream becomes slightly salty from my tears. I feel better for a bit, but there isn't enough ice cream in the world to make everything ok.
~
Following a dissection in biology I swear off meat forever. For a week, the sight of it repulsed me; I don't see a cut of steak, but rather the baby pig splayed on the tray and oozing with chemicals that give off a nauseating smell. Then I spend the weekend at my friend's house, where her mom confidently asserts that I'll be craving a cheeseburger within a week. Immediately I set out to prove her wrong, and I spend the next 365 days holding to my vow. At the end of the year I feel a sense of achievement; if proved everyone wrong, and now I can go back to eating hamburgers.
~
I walk through a line of desserts with my mother close behind. As I pile up my plate with all kinds of cookies, cakes, and other delightful sweets, my mom chitters behind me- don't take do much good that's too many sweets you'll get fat you'll get diabetes put that back. Finally I grab a massive brownie off of the table. My mom glares at me and begins a "young lady don't you dare..." I stare straight into her eyes as I take a massive bite out of the brownie. She gives me one last glare and stalks away. Immediately my victory doesn't taste so sweet. What I've swallowed feels heavy in my stomach and I head for the nearest trash can. I spit out what's in my mouth and resist the urge to vomit. Instead I drop in the remaining food. To this day, I don't know if I feel bad for defying my mom or if what she's been saying this whole time finally hit me.
~
So yeah. I guess you could say that I have a dysfunctional relationship with food.

Food and Me

Food should be simple. It fills your belly. It gives you energy. It keeps you alive. But it’s so much more than just that. Food is the one constant in your life. It’s the one relationship that will literally last a lifetime, growing and developing as you do. Some people have a more…dysfunctional relationship with food. I count myself in that group of people.
~
I run into the house with years streaming down my face. I am young - 7 or 8 at most. My mother comes running downstairs at the sound of my cries. She pulls me into her arms, and then leads me to the sink. I sniff as tears stream down my face. She gently rinses the gravel from the scrape on my wrist. I wince and struggle, but she holds me firm as she runs cold water over the wound. When she's satisfied she turns off the water and wipes away my tears. She asks me what happened and I get out something about falling from my bike before I start crying again. She shushes me and gives me another hug. She directs me to the couch and turns in the tv. She leaved, and when she returns she holds a big bowl of ice cream. I gladly accept, and the moment I take the first bite, the scrape starts to hurt a bit less.
~
I'm 16 and starting to break under the pressures of school. It's 2 am and I run down to the kitchen after a particularly bad fight with one of my friends. I grab a bowl and some ice cream and sit alone in the dark. The ice cream becomes slightly salty from my tears. I feel better for a bit, but there isn't enough ice cream in the world to make everything ok.
~
Following a dissection in biology I swear off meat forever. For a week, the sight of it repulsed me; I don't see a cut of steak, but rather the baby pig splayed on the tray and oozing with chemicals that give off a nauseating smell. Then I spend the weekend at my friend's house, where her mom confidently asserts that I'll be craving a cheeseburger within a week. Immediately I set out to prove her wrong, and I spend the next 365 days holding to my vow. At the end of the year I feel a sense of achievement; if proved everyone wrong, and now I can go back to eating hamburgers.
~
I walk through a line of desserts with my mother close behind. As I pile up my plate with all kinds of cookies, cakes, and other delightful sweets, my mom chitters behind me- don't take do much good that's too many sweets you'll get fat you'll get diabetes put that back. Finally I grab a massive brownie off of the table. My mom glares at me and begins a "young lady don't you dare..." I stare straight into her eyes as I take a massive bite out of the brownie. She gives me one last glare and stalks away. Immediately my victory doesn't taste so sweet. What I've swallowed feels heavy in my stomach and I head for the nearest trash can. I spit out what's in my mouth and resist the urge to vomit. Instead I drop in the remaining food. To this day, I don't know if I feel bad for defying my mom or if what she's been saying this whole time finally hit me.
~
So yeah. I guess you could say that I have a dysfunctional relationship with food.

An Attack on Character: Normal Proceedings in the Court

JUSTICE KENNEDY: You think Congress can use its powers to supercede the traditional authority and prerogative of the States to regulate marriage in all respects? Congress could have a uniform definition of marriage that includes age, consanguinity, etc., etc.?


GENERAL VERRILLI: No, I'm not saying that, Your Honor. I think if Congress passed such a statute, then we would have to consider how to defend it. But that's not -­


JUSTICE KENNEDY: Well, but then there is a federalism interest at stake here, and I thought you told the Chief Justice there was not.

~

On Wednesday March 27, The Supreme Court heard the case States v Windsor, in which lawyers made compelling arguments for and against the repeal of the Defense of Marriage Act.  The justices, on the other hand, did their best to rhetorically manipulate the lawyers to support the justice’s own side.  This is clearly seen in Kennedy’s use of leading questions to weaken Verrilli’s credibility in the eyes of the other judges.  Chief Justice Roberts had asked General Verrilli if the federal government had the ability to give benefits to same sex couples if the state had voted that they could not be married (ie, whether the state’s would lose their rights to decide on the matter).  Verrilli answers no, they would not lose their rights.  Later, when he says that we would have to defend the statutes, Kennedy points out that that means that we have an issue regarding federalism and implies that Verrilli’s earlier response had been a lie.

Kennedy’s audience appears at first to be just the judges in the room, but this isn’t just some case about a divorce or petty theft.  It is a Supreme Court case regarding gay marriage, one of the most controversial social issues of the 21^st century.  Therefore, the people paying attention to the case stretches beyond the court room to encompass many Americans (including Ms. Parham’s AP Language and Composition classes).  And everyone who is paying attention – as well as those who are not – has some sort of a stance on the matter.  This emotional investment in the issue makes it difficult to pull out the warrants behind the claims made in the debate.  Let’s take a look, shall we?

1.    Justice Kennedy’s question here is very pointed; he knows how Verrilli would answer and phrases it so that the warrant (The states constitutionally have the right to regulate marriage; Congress does not have the power to make this decision on a national level) is a fact that must be agreed with. 

2.    Verrilli’s response is rather self-explanatory; he states that if congress passed legislation on gay marriage, it would need to be defended.

3.    This is where it gets truly interesting.  Now the warrant behind Justice Kennedy’s words isn’t just that federalism is at stake and therefore Verrilli is wrong, but rather that Verrilli lied and therefore cannot be trusted.

The section is an ad hominem, an attack on Verrilli’s ethos.  Kennedy’s tone is accusatory as he reminds Verrilli that he’d “told the Chief Justice there was not” an attack on federalism in this case.  

The implication at the end of the section isn’t the only part attacking Verrilli.  Kennedy also uses words such as “traditional authority,” “supercede,” and “regulate marriage in all respects” to slowly and subtly attack Verrilli and his arguments.  “Traditional authority” brings up the scare tactics used earlier to appeal to fear of the unknown, as well as bring up almost a nostalgia that surrounds traditions.  “Supercede” implies that what Verrilli suggests would make Congress an all powerful tyrant, casting aside the opinions of the states.  The final sound bite that stood out to me (“regulate marriage in all respects”) is one that appeals to the complexity of marriage and implies that if the states were to lose the right to decide on gay marriage, they would lose the right for all other decisions regarding marriage.
Verrilli never really regains control during this section of the case; Kennedy successfully makes a case that discredits his ethos, and even denies him the chance to defend himself.  

Verrilli 0 Kennedy 1