When eating organic was totally uncool

  "When eating organic was totally uncool" by Pha Lo, illustrates when eating organic was not a luxury but the only option available to survive. The author grew up in a Hmong refugee community and because they were so poor, they ate organic. They lived in Del Paso Heights California, and grew organic food in their backyard with fear of being punish for it. In the essay Pha Lo stated " they farmed in the city for two necessities: food and a wishful connection to the old ways of life." The only way to support the family was though agriculture, even if it was not practice by others. His family grew up food anywhere they was soil, even between parking lots. The food in the market was so expensive that it was hard to lived by without growing your own food. They grew their food in constant fear, of being reported to, to the authorities.  Even though the author hated it, his family was to poor to simply changed their lifestyle. In modern times, people grow their own food as if it is a fashion. What was once the only option for a refugee family to survive, it's now celebrated as a luxurious fashion.

A Small Place

   After reading "A Small Place"by Jamaica Kincaid, I realize something that I didn't give much thought prior to the reading. When you are a tourist you don't really realize the actual economic and social standards the local are facing, only what you are allowed to see. While you are enjoying your vacation, the locals are struggling to even survive. You are oblivious to your surroundings, and the only things you know is limited by the resort or hotel you are staying in. What attracts a tourist to the place of vacation is the same factor that makes life so much difficult for the locals. For instance, Kincaid points out that the dry and sunny weather of Antigua is what brings tourist to the island but also those dry conditions bring droughts as well. Tourist also find fascinating the simple lifestyle the local lived by, without realizing that its not a choice but the only option. After reading the essay, I started thinking of things differently in respective to tourism. It also help me realize that its the same things for many other country or island who's main source of income is tourism. The places where the tourist stay are kept in the best condition, giving the tourist the idea that its the same throughout the whole country. It's an illusion created by the corrupt government to make the country look stable when in reality its in a horrible state. If the purpose of the essay was to open the reader mine to a different perspective related to tourism then Jamaica Kincaid was definitely successful in doing so.