miko3_edith

Martin Luther King was a hero to so many. He inspired, allowed to let freedom of speech take control of what anyone has in their heart, he took stands for freedom and had taught. Kings, “Letter from Birmingham Jail” did just that. He wrote this letter from the city jail in Birmingham, Alabama where he was arrested for participating in civil rights demonstration. Kings purpose for this letter was to attract attention to the audience by supporting his beliefs against racism. He wanted equality for people everywhere and said that “Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere.”

King starts off his letter by stating this letter is a response to a statement eight Southern Christian ministers had made. They wrote a letter to the newspaper criticizing King’s nonviolent actions and had called his present activities "unwise and untimely." These ministers urged him to let the fight of discrimination to be settled in the courts. Because they considered King to be an extremist they questioned his sense of urgency for the battle of racism to be equal. King adds, he hopes his response would be patient and on reasonable terms.

I must add, as a reader I felt his passion and intensity throughout his letter. King without question answered their criticism in a careful cautious tone. He attracted a lot with his letter. He knew his audience, and with that said he assembled a reply to their criticisms but most importantly hyped his cause. He went off to add African-Americans faced murder, violence and the denial of civil rights, all of which were being supported by the courts. King took the time to answer his critics with patience, logic and intelligence. Opposed to retaliating with more rhetoric, he created a work that transcended its original purpose and became a meditation on injustice.

In my opinion this letter was extraordinary; it has touched my heart in countless ways. Because of his contribution to this matter, King has made a huge impact for the future of African Americans to live freely. King put faith in god and believed that the will of good would be the key to overcome segregation. One of the main things I took out of this is to follow your heart and most importantly your conscience against injustice and unjust laws. No matter what comes in between.

The essay “On Dumpster Diving“, by Lars Eighner is based on a man who speaks of his survival as a homeless man accompanied by his dog named Lizbeth. Not only does he explain his strategies living out of dumpsters, but also the lessons he has learned as a scavenger. Most importantly I think the true message he was trying to get across is that we waste way more then we think we do, it’s in our nature.

Eighner starts off by saying long before he began Dumpster diving, he was always impressed with Dumpsters. As a result of this he wrote the Merriam-Webster research service to get all that he could about “Dumpster.” Shortly after he learned it’s a proprietary word belonging to the Dempsey Dumpster company and ever since then he began to capitalize the word even though it was lowercase. Eighner began Dumpster diving a year before he became homeless. He ended up using all of his income for rent, thus having to gather all of life necessities from Dumpsters.

He had developed a lot of experience in distinguishing on what was safe to eat and what wasn’t. He mentioned “eating from a dumpster is what separates the dilettanti from the professionals.” Eighner went by three principles, common sense, knowing the Dumpsters and checking them regularly, and seeking always to answer the question “Why was this discarded.’ Canned goods are known to be the safest of foods to be found in Dumpsters. However, some can cause fatal diseases like botulism. Raw fruits and vegetables seem perfectly harmless, except for the rotten ones of course. Hard candy are also quite safe, since most of them are hard and a method of food preservation. So are carbonated drinks the more fizz the better. Eighner also began to scavenge by pulling pizza out of the Dumpster behind a pizza delivery shop. He knew exactly what time the shop closed and went to the Dumpster as soon as the last employee left. He always seemed to have plenty simply because of bogus calls, or customer complaints.

Throughout his experiences he began to learn to avoid game, poultry, pork, egg based foods, fish and leftovers since they spoil easily. From time to time he would find a somewhat reasonable amount of beef which was most often in good condition. He also stayed away from ethnic foods only because most often it was unrecognizable. As a result it was hard to tell if it was bad. Eighner soon discovered colleges. He mentions students throw out many good things, including food. As a matter of fact they seem to throw out everything especially between moves and at the end of semesters. Some of these foods include half a jar of peanut butter, yogurt, cheese and sour cream. Most of these foods are discarded by slight imperfections, or just because some are near expiration date. The students also discarded drugs, pornography and spirits. Eighner also mentions in general people throw away perfectly good stuff, a lot of perfectly good stuff. Most of it contains much value, but he only collects things that he can use immediately.

In conclusion through Eighner Dumpster diving experiences he has learned much as a scavenger. One of the main lessons is that you can’t keep it all, since most of it will be discarded once again. He mentions his views about possessions and then states that he can now compare himself to the wealthy because he knows there’s always more. He seems to view everyone else as “rat race millions” as for the people who want everything regardless of whether they need it or not.

miko3_edith