Marquan Jackson in the House!

It is 9:30 p.m.  Dinner was at 6.  What time is it now? It’s dessert time!  Mmm…dessert.  One of the most delicious meals of the day in my opinion.  There are so many options to choose from: ice cream, cake, cookies, pies ect.  However,one of the most delightful and cherished treats in America is the brownie.  Whether it be triple chocolate fudge, or you’re average joe brownie, this baked good will turn heads as the captivating chocolaty aroma caresses and tingles your senses.  With its ooey-gooey fudge taste and chocolate swirls melting in your mouth, what isn’t there to like?

Not only does it serve as a FANTASTIC bribe to get an extension on a torturous paper, it also serves as the one treat that satisfies every woman’s chocolate cravings, regardless of the circumstances.  You’d be surprised however that the first “brownie” contained no chocolate at all!  Shocking, right? The brownie obviously got its name from its color, a deep, enticing chocolate brown. There is much controversy involving when the first brownie was actually made.  Many reliable sources claim that it was around the 20th century.  Myth has it that the first brownie was an accident that occurred when a careless cook forgot to add baking powder to a chocolate cake.  When the cake didn’t rise, instead of throwing it away, he/she simply served it as little bars.  There is also another tale that says that a cook accidentally spilled melted chocolate into a batch of biscuits.  One thing that is certain is brownies are the most delicious accident I’ve ever tasted!  When the first known recipe of a “brownie” was published is also up for debate.  “Quite a few sources cite the first-known recipe for brownies as the 1897 Sears, Roebuck Catalogue, but this was a recipe for a molasses candy merely called brownies.” There is also another claim that it first appeared in the 1896 Boston Cooking-School Book, but those were simply cookies covered in molasses. The origin of this chocolatey delight with forever remain an unsolved mystery.

Since the 20th century, brownies have definitely stepped up their game.  Walk through the cooking aisle at your local supermarket and you’ll find brownie mix permeated throughout the various selections.  You can make them from scratch or use a Betty Crocker, Pillsbury, or Duncan Hines pre-made brownie mix.  You can even spice them up with your favorite nut, frosting, or powdered sugar.  Make them extra chewy, or more cake-like!  Brownies can fulfill whatever your heart desires.  Next time you’re feeling down and need a little pick-me-up, indulge in a delicious chocolate brownie, and all of yourdreams will come true.

Is this blog making you hungry?  Are you craving some brownies? Go to the website below for delicious brownie recipes:

www.verybestbaking.com/recipes/category/brownie_recipes.aspx

To learn more about the history of brownies, go to the website below:

http://www.thenibble.com/REVIEWS/MAIN/cookies/cookies2/history-of-the-brownie.asp

Some videos you may enjoy:

Homemade Brownies

I Love Brownies (The Music Video)

The Darker Side to Brownies…

In Newsweek there is a very interesting article that tells the story of a man named, Gabriel Hinojos, who talks about his transition from being a member of one of the toughest gangs in L.A., to a loving, non-violent father and husband.  “Getting out of a street gang in L.A. is about like getting a tattoo removed: slow, painful, scarring.”  The article presents the reality that gangs are a major source of violence throughout the country and once you’re in, it’s almost impossible to get out.  Gang life landed Gabriel into prison two times and because of California’s three strike system, if he were to go to jail one more time, he’d be there for life.  This reality forces Gabriel to abandon the gang he’s been apart of for the majority of his life, but that doesn’t mean that the temptation to engage in violent acts doesn’t exist.  Many times after he’s fought with his wife or something isn’t going right in his life, he has the urge to go out onto the streets and find his homies and create chaos.  This shows that regardless of how much you want to completely leave a gang, it will always be apart of who you are, but you have the option to make the right decisions and stay as far away as you can from the gang complications.  Many convicted criminals of gang violence make it out of jail within a couple of years with a positive attitude to do right in the world, but many slip right back into bad habits.  A main reason this happens is the lack of resources people have when they leave jail.  Many convicted criminals leave jail with nothing in their pockets and struggle to find jobs, which puts them on the streets.  Many people find it easier to get back into hussling and drug dealing to make quick cash, over applying for jobs they know they won’t be offered because of their criminal records.  Another temptation convicted criminals must face is drug and alcohol abuse.  There are very few programs installed in prisons that help drug and alcohol addicts recover from their disease, therefore, when they leave prison, they have to fight the temptation on their own.  This leads them right back onto their negative, illegal lifestyle and ends them back into prison. Many convicts experience a vicious circle phenomenom when trying to escape jail life because they lack to resources to succeed outside of prison.  For reasons such as these and many others, over half of the people released from prison end right back in prison within a year.  However, there are institutions such as, Homeboys Industries, which was mentioned in Newsweek that are trying to turn these statistics around. “Homeboy Industries assists at-risk and formerly gang-involved youth to become positive and contributing members of society through job placement, training and education.” With more places like Homeboys Industries set up throughout the country, maybe leaving criminal and gang life won’t be as hard and painful as getting a tattoo removed.

- Marquan Jackson.

Here are a few videos that expand on this topic:

life after prison

Gangs, Guns & Violence Part I

To read the article in Newsweek:

http://www.newsweek.com/id/183677/page/2

To learn more about Homeboy Industries:

http://www.homeboy-industries.org/

So today in class we watched Star Trek and I found myself making fun of the show instead of actually attempting to understand what was going on.  I guess my reaction to watching something that was unfamiliar to me and not really exciting was a negative one, and i found myself avoiding the show all together in order to get a good laugh in.  Then i got a little deeper, and started to re-examine why I may have the fear of things that are foreign to me.  I started to question if i was perhaps Xenophobic.  “Xenophobia is the fear of strangers and foreigners or of anything that is strange or foreign.” Then i realized that it was a great possiblity.  I refuse to call 411 or order a pizza because i don’t like to talk to strangers.  I also realized that I not only experience many forms of xenophobia, but I also suffer from many other phobias, such as Aichmophobia (fear of needles), Coulrophobia (fear of clowns), and Iatrophobia (fear of doctors).  What makes people develop such great fears?  Is it because of a traumatizing experience from their past or just being pused outside of their comfort zone?  Many facotrs include genetics, life experiences, and cultural factors.  We are taught growing up to love our neighbor, so why are we afraid of him?  The world is a very odd place…

The One and Only,

Marquan Jackson

for a list of common phobias:

http://psychology.about.com/od/phobias/a/phobialist.htm

video on different types of phobias:

watch?v=bFD19LOwDsg

video on xenophobia in south africa:

watch?v=Yxsfq-y3UFY

http://montaraventures.com/pix/phobia.gif

“Every day in the news we hear about crooked politicians, greedy CEOs, insider trading, embezzling evangelists caught in “love triangles,” “good Christians” doing very bad things. On talk-radio, news shows, at our churches, all around us, we hear about the decline of values, morals, ethics, civility, manners and, of course, common decency. People talk nostalgically about the “good old days” when Americans lived according to a set of standards of which they could be proud.”

Oh the good ol’ days. How they are truly missed.  Those days were the days when you’re television programs televised shows like, The Fresh Prince of Bellair, Boy Meets World, and Full House. The days when the moral of the story was always, “Now Betty, sharing is caring, and you care about your friend Suzie, so you should share the last cookie with her,” instead of, “Now Jimmy, crack is wack and you should never drop out of school and end up in a juvinile detention center for the possesion of drugs. ”  Little Michelle was the cutest little thing I’ve ever seen.  When her father taught her a valuable life lesson and she responded, “You got it dude!” my heart melted everytime.  I wish it were that easy.   Full House never ran short of valuable morals and life lessons and the messages are truly missed.  But what exactly are morals?  According to dictionary.com, a moral is something that relates to what is right and what is wrong.  When you are a moral person, you know the difference between right and wrong and always make the right decision when you are placed in difficult situations.  Growing up, your parents tell you stories like the Tortoise and the Hare and Jack and Jill to teach you valuable life lessons and to give you hope in life.  I can’t begin to tell you how many times I’ve been told that if i put my mind to something then I’ll get it.  I wish it were that easy.  Reality is having morals don’t make you a good person or make life easier.  Yeah, its nice to have beliefs to stick to but just because you have morals doesn’t mean you’re never going to make the wrong decision or mess up in life.  Shows like Full House were cute shows that gave hope to people, but they weren’t realistic.  If only the whole world weren’t morally challenged then maybe we could simply say, “You got it dude!” and move on with our lives.

- Marquan Jackson

For more on morals, click here:

http://www.explorefaith.org/lifelines_morals.html