Summary By Ellen Smirl: Comparative Analysis

Comparative Analysis

My original core reading “How a Government Computer Glitch forced Thousands of Families to go Hungry” Gerry Smith’s article goes into detail about North Carolina’s system glitch and how it forced several, hungry families to go without food. Smith is currently working with The Huffington Post to report all means involving technology. Ellen Smirl, the woman who published “Social Justice Deficits in the Local Food Movement: Local Food and Low-Income Realities” has written about several different topics, from the food industry all the way to the insurance companies. Within this reading she discusses alternative food movement and how these choices affect the environment. Likewise, both readings reach out and try to inform others

While Camilla Lewis from Smith’s paper can relate to that “cheapness” she is forced to feed her two-year-old son processed foods, even though he has a digestive illness, she is left with no option except “low-priced items like chicken nuggets and instant mashed potatoes” (as cited in Smith, 2014). “Neglecting the inequalities that exist at the local level cannot only fail to solve existing problems but engender new ones” (Smirl4). Comparing the two leads me to believe that some families wouldn’t pursue a choice like Lewis’, that some would use the money out of their own pocket. Stephon Johnson (2013), a man who wrote about millions of New Yorkers facing food stamp cuts stated, “An average family of three will lose twenty-nine dollars a month.” Twenty-nine dollars may not seem like a lot, but if your already living paycheck to paycheck that money may be the difference of keeping your lights on. When situations like these go unsolved and people continue to go hungry what are we really doing to our country? People turn a blind eye to what’s going on, but become extremely upset when the families without food finally stand up and put their foot down, but at the end of the day those people are the one’s always in the wrong, not the