This week’s discussion focuses on description. Sensory details, such as sight, sound, smell, feel, or taste, help the reader to “see” the object the writer is describing.
Week One Discussion requires responding to two questions. Write at least one paragraph (5- 7 sentences) for each of the questions and submit them in your initial post. Then respond to at least one of your peers, commenting on both parts of their response.
Post 1: Answer both sections A & B in your initial post.

1. After reading “No Wonder they Call me a Bitch” beginning on p. 107 of The Norton Sampler, choose a physical description that Hodgman uses in her story. Analyze that description and tell us how the author’s words create a sensory effect (touch, smell, hearing, taste, or vision). Share your reaction to the description and whether you think it is effective and why.
2. Write a descriptive paragraph comparing two foods categories such as snack foods (Doritos vs generic taco chips), fast food burgers (the Quarter Pounder from McDonald’s vs the Whopper from Burger King), candy bars, sports drinks, or any similar food groups. Using sensory details (taste, feel, smell, look/sight), describe them and convey your preference without directly saying “I like XXX best.”

 
“NO WONDER THEY CALL ME A BITCH”
ANN HODGMAN
Ann Hodgman is a food critic for Eating Well magazine. Besides playing goalie on a women’s
hockey team, she is the author of more than forty children’s books, including My Babysitter Is a
Vampire, and several cookbooks. For reasons soon to be apparent, however, the following “tasteless” essay did not appear in Hodgman’s food column, “Sweet and Sour,” but in the satiric magazine
Spy, for which Hodgman was a contributing editor. A spoof on taste testing, it takes a blue ribbon
for disgusting description that appeals to the grosser senses.
______________________________________________________________________________
I’ve always wondered about dog food. Is a Gaines-burger really like a hamburger? Can you fry it?
Does dog food “cheese” taste like real cheese? Does Gravy Train actually make gravy in the dog’s
bowl, or is that brown liquid just dissolved crumbs? And exactly what are byproducts?
Having spent the better part of a week eating dog food, I’m sorry to say that I now know the
answers to these questions. While my dachshund, Shortie, watched in agonies of yearning, I gagged
my way through can after can of stinky, white-flecked mush and bag after bag of stinky, fatdrenched nuggets. And now I understand exactly why Shortie’s breath is so bad.
Of course, Gaines-burgers are neither mush nor nuggets. They are, rather, a miracle of beauty
and packaging—or at least that’s what I thought when I was little. I used to beg my mother to get
them for our dogs, but she always said they were too expensive. When I finally bought a box of
cheese-flavored Gaines-burgers—after twenty years of longing—I felt deliciously wicked.
“Dogs love real beef,” the back of the box proclaimed proudly. “That’s why Gaines-burgers is
the only beef burger for dogs with real beef and no meat byproducts!” The copy was accurate: meat
byproducts did not appear in the list of ingredients. Poultry by-products did, though—right there
next to preserved animal fat.
One Purina spokesman told me that poultry byproducts consist of necks, intestines,
undeveloped eggs and other “carcass remnants,” but not feathers, heads, or feet. When I told him
1’d been eating dog food, he said, “Oh, you’re kidding! Oh, no!” (I came to share his alarm when,
weeks later, a second Purina spokesman said that Gaines-burgers do contain poultry heads and feetbut not undeveloped eggs.)
Up close my Gaines-burger didn’t much resemble chopped beef. Rather, it looked—and felt—
like a single long, extruded piece of redness that had been chopped into segments and formed into a
patty. You could make one at home if you had a Play-Doh Fun Factory.
I turned on the skillet. While I waited for it to heat up I pulled out a shred of cheese-colored
material and palpated it. Again, like Play-Doh, it was quite malleable. I made a little cheese bird out
of it; then I counted to three and ate the bird.
There was a horrifying rush of cheddar taste, followed immediately by the dull tang of
soybean flour—the main ingredient in Gaines-burgers. Next I tried a piece of red extrusion. The
main difference between the meat-flavored and cheese-flavored extrusions is one of texture. The
“cheese” chews like fresh Play-Doh, whereas the “meat” chews like Play-Doh that’s been sitting out
on a rug for a couple of hours.
Frying only turned the Gaines-burger black. There was no melting, no sizzling, no warm meat
smells. A cherished childhood illusion was gone. I flipped the patty into the sink, where it
immediately began leaking rivulets of red dye.
As alarming as the Gaines-burgers were, their soy meal began to seem like an old friend when
the time came to try some canned dog foods. I decided to try the Cycle foods first. When I opened
them, I thought about how rarely I use can openers these days, and I was suddenly visited by a
long-forgotten sensation of can-opener distaste. This is the kind of unsavory place can openers
spend their time when you’re not watching! Every time you open a can of, say, Italian plum
tomatoes, you infect them with invisible particles of byproduct.
I had been expecting to see the usual homogeneous scrapple inside, but each can of Cycle was
packed with smooth, round, oily nuggets. As if someone at Gaines had been tipped off that a human
would be tasting the stuff, the four Cycles really were different from one another. Cycle-1, for
puppies, is wet and soyish. Cycle-2, for adults, glistens nastily with fat, but it’s passably edible—a
lot like some canned Swedish meatballs I once got in a Care package at college. Cycle-3, the “lite”
one, for fatties, had no specific flavor; it just tasted like dog food. But at least it didn’t make me fat.
Cycle-4, for senior dogs, had the smallest nuggets. Maybe old dogs can’t open their mouths as
wide. This kind was far sweeter than the other three Cycles—almost like baked beans. It was also
the only one to contain “dried beef digest,” a mysterious substance that the Purina spokesman
defined as “enzymes” and my dictionary defined as “the products of digestion.”
Next on the menu was a can of Kal Kan Pedigree with Chunky Chicken. Chunky chicken?
There were chunks in the can, certainly-big, purplish-brown chunks. I forked one chunk out (by
now I was becoming more callous) and found that while it had no discernible chicken flavor, it
wasn’t bad except for its texture—like meat loaf with ground-up chicken bones.
In the world of canned dog food, a smooth consistency is a sign of low quality-lots of cereal.
A lumpy, frightening, bloody, stringy horror is a sign of high quality-lots of meat. Nowhere in the
world of wet dog foods was this demonstrated better than in the fanciest I tried—Kal Kan’s
Pedigree Select Dinners. These came not in a can but in a tiny foil packet with a picture of an
imperious Yorkie. When I pulled open the container, juice spurted all over my hand, and the first
chunk I speared was trailing a long gray vein. I shrieked and went instead for a plain chunk, which I
was able to swallow only after taking a break to read some suddenly fascinating office equipment
catalogues. Once again, though, it tasted no more alarming than, say, canned hash.
Still, how pleasant it was to turn to dry dog food! Gravy Train was the first I tried, and I’m
happy to report that it really does make a “thick, rich, real beef gravy” when you mix it with water.
Thick and rich, anyway. Except for a lingering rancid-fat flavor, the gravy wasn’t beefy, but since it
tasted primarily like tap water, it wasn’t nauseating either.
My poor dachshund just gets plain old Purina Dog Chow, but Purina also makes a dry food
called Butcher’s Blend that comes in Beef, Bacon & Chicken flavor. Here we see dog food’s arcane
semiotics at its best: a red triangle with a T stamped into it is supposed to suggest beef; a tan curl,
chicken; and a brown S, a piece of bacon. Only dogs understand these messages. But Butcher’s
Blend does have an endearing slogan: “Great Meaty Tastes—without bothering the Butcher!” You
know, I wanted to buy some meat, but I just couldn’t bring myself to bother the butcher. . .
Purina O.N.E. (“Optimum Nutritional Effectiveness”) is targeted at people who are unlikely
ever to worry about bothering a tradesperson. “We chose chicken as a primary ingredient in Purina
O.N.E. for several reasonings,” the long, long essay on the back of the bag announces. Chief among
these reasonings, I’d guess, is the fact that chicken appeals to people who are—you know—like us.
Although our dogs do nothing but spend eighteen-hour days alone in the apartment, we still want
them to be premium dogs. We want them to cut down on red meat, too. We also want dog food that
comes in a bag with an attractive design, a subtle typeface, and no kitschy pictures of slobbering
golden retrievers.
Besides that, we want a list of the Nutritional Benefits of our dog food—and we get it on
O.N.E. One thing I especially like about this list is its constant references to a dog’s “hair coat,” as
in “Beef tallow is good for the dog’s skin and hair coat.” (On the other hand, beef tallow merely
provides palatability, while the dried beef digest in Cycle provides palatability enhancement.)
I hate to say it, but O.N.E. was pretty palatable. Maybe that’s because it has about 100 percent
more fat than, say, Butcher’s Blend. Or maybe I’d been duped by the packaging; that’s been known
to happen before.
As with people food, dog snacks taste much better than dog meals. They’re better looking too.
Take Milk-Bone Flavor Snacks. The loving-hands-at-home prose describing each flavor is colorful;
the writers practically choke on their own exuberance. Of bacon they say, “It’s so good, your dog
will think it’s hot off the frying pan.” Of liver: “The only taste your dog wants more than liver-is
even more liver!” Of poultry: “All those farm fresh flavors deliciously mixed in one biscuit. Your
dog will bark with delight!” And of vegetable: “Gardens of taste! Specially blended to give your
dog that vegetable flavor he wants-but can rarely get!”
Well, I may be a sucker, but advertising this emphatic just doesn’t convince me. I lined up all
seven flavors of Milk-Bone Flavor Snacks on the floor. Unless my dog’s palate is a lot more
sensitive than mine—and considering that she steals dirty diapers out of the trash and eats them, I’m
loath to think it is—she doesn’t detect any more difference in the seven flavors than I did when I
tried them.
I much preferred Bonz, the hard-baked, bone-shaped snack stuffed with simulated marrow. I
liked the bone part, that is; it tasted almost exactly like the cornmeal it was made of. The mock
marrow inside was a bit more problematic: in addition to looking like the sludge that collects in the
treads of my running shoes, it was bursting with tiny hairs.
I’m sure you have a few dog food questions of your own. To save us time, I’ve answered them
in advance.
Q. Are those little cans of Mighty Dog actually branded with the sizzling word BEEF,
the way they show in the commercials?
A. You should know by now that that kind of thing never happens.
Q. Does chicken-flavored dog food taste like chicken-flavored cat food?
A. To my surprise, chicken cat food was actually a little better—more chickeny. It tasted
like inferior canned pate.
Q. Was there any dog food that you just couldn’t bring yourself to try?
A. Alas, it was a can of Mighty Dog called Prime Entree with Bone Marrow. The meat
was dark, dark brown, and it was surrounded by gelatin that was almost black. I knew I would die if
I tasted it, so I put it outside for the raccoons.
Hodgman, Ann. “No Wonder They Call Me a Bitch.” The Norton Sampler, 6th Edition. Ed.
Thomas Cooley. New York, NY: W. W. Norton and Company, 2003. 47-51.

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Effects Of Video Games On Children
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Effects Of Video Games On Children
Technology has developed so fast and even become so easy and advanced such that even children are into it. Digital technology has become a new and preferred lifestyle in our society. People of all ages; children, adolescents, and adults are all embracing the digital world. Apart from making things easy for humans, it has brought an adverse outcome of self-realization in the virtual world. This realization may bring about further self-development in people. The reason why there is a drastic change in the world every day.
Video games have become so popular and widespread globally. They are a way of personality realization and expression of character. Many adults and children have drowned in the pool of the video games world as a form of entertainment, competition, learning, and more their leisure activities. Video games are also a source of income in the form of gambling. Men and boys are more into videogames than women and girls. Research shows that the effects of video games can be both positive and negative. Children are more likely to be affected by video games than adults since they are still in their development stages. In this topic, we will discuss the possible effects of video games on children.
First of all, children become addicted to video games such that they want to play all the time. A child may develop an obsessive behavior in that they are always thinking of getting to the game. They may also show irritable behavior, be restless and aggressive when not playing the games. Once denied to play the video games, they may get irritable and depressed, and even annoyed. Some feel unloved and like they are being denied their right thus becomes depressed.
Some children may become dishonest and develop bad behaviors like stealing video games and money to spend on gaming without the knowledge of their parents.
Addiction to these games causes the child not to participate in other physical exercise games as they are always glued to the games. Lack of exercise may result in health problems as well as affect brain development. These children may also be isolated socially as they don’t get to play outside with other children. Spending time on video games always may cause other physical problems as carpal tunnel syndrome, which is caused by excess use of mouse and controllers when playing the game. Also called the median nerve compression, it is the feeling of the hand being numb or weak. A child may experience headaches such as migraines, backache, and also dry eyes. Children who play games at night may experience sleep deprivation which is not good for their developing minds. This may cause them to have headaches and feel fatigued during the day.
Children may also spend very minimum or no time studying because they spend most of their time on games. They may lack concentration during the little time that they study or in school because of fatigue from playing and also being absent-minded thinking of the game. They may often do their homework and revisions in a hurry so that they can go back to gaming ending up not learning anything.  This is more likely to cause a drop in their academic grades.  This may cause them to feel guilty in the future because of the time they wasted gaming instead of doing important things like studying. These children may also get very irresponsible with other things like even neglecting their hygiene and cleanliness.
Children that play violent video games are said to have increased physical aggression and are likely to be violent over time. The children are more likely to start up fights with their peers and also try to defend themselves violently when attacked by others. During other physical exercises, they may be found wanting t to prove their ability as they see in these videogames. They may always want to victorious among their peers and to prove that they might end up hurting others by hitting them because they feel it is acceptable as it is in the games. Most of the time they tend to copy moves the saw from the game.
Done with some negative effects of videogames on children, it’s good to check into their good side and how it builds them. Nonviolent games help children developing good characters. Most of these nonviolent video games help in the development of prosocial thoughts helping behavior and also empathy in children. This helps bring children together and teaches them the goodness of treating each other well. This helps to induce good behavior among children. They also help in reducing and limiting the development of aggression in children.
Educational video games and exergames can also build children in being good. Educational games can be used to teach and encourage healthy eating for example, among other necessary contents in life (“Media and the Well-being of Children and Adolescents”, 2020). Participating in these games can lead to positive behavioral changes that help children as they grow. Exergames are interactive games that need children to indulge in some exercises to play. They may require one to use energy, a certain time to do something, or even show they can do a certain activity. They help in physical fitness and development in children and also psychological health. They may also boost social growth among children
Video game playing is also said to have a positive effect on visual-spatial skills. Visual-spatial skills are the potential to tell the distance between objects or where they are. Children who play video games frequently are bound to show fast visual reactions relative to accuracy in localization as well as mental rotation. This reflects on how children perform in real-life activities. They tend to be fast and sharp in their other activities.
Study shows that playing a video game has a positive effect on children suffering from dyslexia. Dyslexia is a disorder that causes difficulties in learning to read. Children with dyslexia have poor language skills in reading, writing, and spelling regardless of their classroom experience. This disorder may cause difficulties in understanding and interpreting what a child has read. From a study done researchers found an improvement in reading and phonological decoding in children who played video games. Action video games are said to improve reading speed.
Some video games require more than one participant to play hence a child has to play with other friends. These video games can also help improve social relations among children. As children stay together playing and teaching each other their favorite games, they grow fond of each other and develop bonds that are healthy for them. They learn to live with each other and also grow from each other’s characters as they learn from each other. This also reduces loneliness and withdrawal from others among children.
In conclusion, videogames are both beneficial and destructive to children. They can build them positively or negatively whether physically psychologically or socially.  To appreciate the fast-growing technology and ensure it builds the world and not destroy children who are future leaders and builders it upon parents to monitor and be cautious of the games their children play. To make sure they excel hey should also monitor and regulate the tie the children spend playing and make sure they study. Being bad or good it’s good to give children adequate playtime as it is said that too much work with little play makes Joe a dull boy.
References
Addiction, H., Advice, P., Yourself), H., & Kids, G. (2020). How to Treat your Child’s Video Game Addiction – Raise Smart Kid. Raise Smart Kid. Retrieved 15 November 2020, from https://www.raisesmartkid.com/10-to-16-years-old/6-articles/treat-childs-video-game-addiction#:~:text=Here%20are%20some%20of%20the,wee%20hours%20of%20the%20morning.
carpal tunnel syndrome – Google Search. Google.com. (2020). Retrieved 15 November 2020, from https://www.google.com/search?q=carpal+tunnel+syndrome&rlz=1C1JZAP_enKE914KE914&oq=carpal+tunnel+syndrome&aqs=chrome..69i57&sourceid=chrome&ie=UTF-8.
Children’s violent video game play associated with increased physical aggressive behavior. ScienceDaily. (2020). Retrieved 15 November 2020, from https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2018/10/181001154033.htm.
Media and the Well-being of Children and Adolescents. Google Books. (2020). Retrieved 15 November 2020, from https://books.google.co.ke/books?hl=en&lr=&id=bziTAwAAQBAJ&oi=fnd&pg=PA109&dq=negative+effects+of+video+games+on+children&ots=Z9yntScA67&sig=B5yROLM62Pd4TpoDIsmo9H9hBak&redir_esc=y#v=onepage&q=negative%20effects%20of%20video%20games%20on%20children&f=false.
McArthur, G. et al. Phonics training for English-speaking poor readers. Cochrane Database Syst. Rev. 12, CD009115 (2012).
Towards Understanding the Positive Effect of Playing Violent Video Games on Children’s Development https://doi.org/10.1016/j.sbspro.2012.11.473
 
Video Gaming and Children’s Psychosocial Wellbeing: A Longitudinal Study   retrieved from https://link.springer.com/
 
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