Extra Credit

Shanker and Randolph
In the article “The Big, Fat American Kid Crisis…And 10 Things We Should Do About It”, Eleanor Randolph claims that American children are obese and getting even bigger because of all the unhealthy food enterprises. There are ten ways she proposes to stop or help decrease obesity and the “Big Food” presence by targeting the most important aspects that cause obesity like not making so many junk food ads towards children, getting schools to give healthy snacks and banning junk food in schools, health education for everyone, and labeling food in restaurants, allowing for the possibility of her proposal to work. The piece is very effective because the goals are obtainable and little things that could have enormous helping effects. This is mainly directed towards people who can change the way things are done, like school board members or senators, to help the ones who are obese not have so many chances to become that way.

The second piece is an excerpt from The Fat Girl’s Guide to Life by Wendy Shanker which addresses the view Americans have towards body image and especially towards larger bodies. Her piece is powerful because all of her evidence is from her first hand experience as an overweight person. She writes of how she has struggled with accepting her looks because of negativity from others and herself. Her first hand experience with stereotyping and self-acceptance is something to look at for people who are unhappy with themselves or their lives. This article could be directed towards anyone because almost everyone, with the constant changing of what society says people should be like to be liked; it is hard for almost anyone to be happy with every aspect of their life.