Love Feeds: I NEED YOUR HELP!

VOTE FOR OUR TEAM'S PROPOSAL: LOVE FEEDS.


We are representing not only Auburn University but also the state of Alabama and if we progress to the next round we will represent the United States!


What is it?

How do we encourage people to make better decisions about the food they eat?
How do we identify the correlation between starvation and obesity?
These are the questions "Love Feeds" is based upon.

Those struggling with food insecurity turn to food banks to provide. Unfortunately, the majority of donations food banks receive often times create the obesity and malnutrition we see. Alabama is both the second hungriest and second most obese state in the United States. We will begin our project's research here.

After we have a grasp on what the problem with donations is, we will turn to those who donate: the community and faith based organizations. We will call them to action using scripture such as James 2:15-17, "If a brother or sister lacks food and one of you says, "go in peace," and yet do not supply their bodily needs, what is the good of that? Faith if it has no works is dead."

After we call them to help fight the war on hunger we will equip them with a "Donate This, Not That" guide.

We plan do enact this course of action at local, state-wide, national, and global levels.

Join us as we tell the world the Love Feeds!

WARRR on hunger, hey!

HOW DO YOU HELP?

Below are links to get involved in our project. You can vote 1x a day until April 30th. We need you to vote and share the link to vote on Facebook, twitter, pintrest, tumblr, blogspot, listservs, everywhere! If you want to help us in any other way please let me know. (cmb0030@auburn.edu)

http://apps.facebook.com/promosapp/258653/entry/262122  (LINK TO VOTE)

http://www.facebook.com/AUTFFChallenge (Like us on Facebook)

http://youtu.be/ubzNBVYXU_M (Proposal Video)

@AUTFFChallenge @AU_Co19 (Twitter Accounts)

Be encouraged!

“The greatest battle is not physical but psychological. The demons telling us to give up when we push ourselves to the limit can never be silenced for good. They must always be answered by the quiet and steady dignity that simply refuses to give in. Courage, we all suffer. Keep going.” -Grame Fife

2 Corinthians 4:16-18 “So we do not lose heart. Though our outer self is wasting away, our inner self is being renewed day by day. For this light momentary affliction is preparing for us an eternal weight of glory beyond all comparison, as we look not to the things that are seen but to the things that are unseen. For the things that are seen are transient, but the things that are unseen are eternal.

Link to the Pizza Party info for Fiction I

Hey guys! A lot of you are not my Facebook friends so here is the link to the event, please respond on the wall with what you are bringing and meet up with me this week to give me you $2-3. In order to order pizzas EVERYONE has to bring money so don't let us down.

http://www.facebook.com/groups/266998623389749/267000493389562/?notif_t=group_activity

Response to Ethan Hightower's "Spanish Moss"

Ethan Hightower’s story Spanish Moss traces the story of Blake, Tommy, and Trig who is the narrator. They are 8th graders who are want to smoke weed because they think that’s what the mature high schoolers who are cool do. They sneak down to the creek and smoke. Two of them got really high but one didn’t feel anything. They see what they think is a briefcase full of money in the creek and Trig goes to look at it and discovers a dead baby in a trash bag instead of a suitcase full of money. The incident terrified the boys and was their first encounter with death. One of them moved away and the other two never talked. It ends very sadly and I think the change in the characters was their maturing. Not because of smoking weed, but because of encountering death for the first time firsthand.
I think you have a story that works absolutely beautifully and fully serves the purpose of micro-fiction. I love your elaboration of details on the moss and the creek were wonderful, but I wanted to see this attention to detail in your descriptions of the process of smoking, of the fear of the children, and more detail about running away and the process of maturing as they ran away from death and left their childhood behind. I want more description of leaving their childhood behind on that frantic, tearstained run in the woods. I don’t think I want any more characters added, but elaboration on the three boys is necessary. We know one is excessive and elaborates on everything and one is heading down the trail to being a drug dealer and the other boy (the narrator) is a lazy guy who does whatever his friends want him to do. I feel like they are a little stereotypical and would like to see them more developed. I love your story and can’t wait to see where it goes!

Response to Robert Elrod’s story, “As Big as Light”

Robert Elrod’s story “As Big as Light” is the journal entry on an aging man losing his memory. The main character, the one writing the journal entry, is named Dean. He works for the prestigious Huxley family and has for thirty to thirty-five years. This journal entry recalls Dean’s memory of the Huxley boy, Adrian, on the night he was going to commit suicide because he could no longer take his fathers condescension about his art and lifestyle of pursuing it. In the end Dean’s words of wisdom and time he spent talking with the young Huxley boy deterred his suicide attempt. The story ends with Mrs. Huxley dying and Adrian crying the tears of a man, not a boy.

I thoroughly enjoyed the story. The tone and setting was beautiful and the characters absolutely believable. However, I wanted a little more definition. Was Dean a slave? Simply having Dean say something like, “it was 1934…” or something of the sort in the beginning of his journal entry would clear up a lot of the loose ends I am grasping at. I love the contradiction between Adrian and his father. The parallel passions pit them perfectly against each other, but I do want to see more interaction between the two. I think having Dean remember a scene where he accidently overheard or saw an intense argument between the Huxley men would make us sympathize with Adrian a little more. I think everyone can identify with the pressure to live up to his or her parent’s dreams like Adrian, but I want to see a specific scene. I also think ending the journal entry with more about Dean’s apparent medical decline would be beneficial. He begins by saying the entire reason he is writing in the journal is because the doctors told him it could serve to help him as he loses his mind in the future. I would be terrified if doctors told me that and I think Dean needs to touch on this point again before your story ends. I cant wait to see what you do with it!

Response to lauren barkleys story

Lauren Barkley’s story is about the high school baseball player from a small town (Rochester) who has dreams and aspirations a lot bigger than milking cows. He wants to leave his family and the small town behind to go play baseball but his parents strongly disagree. He ends up deciding to just up and leave and get out of the town to attempt to make his dream come true. He goes off and has an “audition” (I think the right word would be “try-out”) for a professional team where he strikes out three times. He ends up flying back home deciding that his dream was immature and that he wanted to be a small town family man just like his father told him he would be. As he walked back inside his father and mother were surprised and happy to see him. It ends with his father handing him an envelope with $1000 and a note saying, “play ball.”

I think you did a great job of setting up a good setting and believable characters. However, I do think your story has been told before. I feel like you need to add an unexpected twist or just elaborate on setting and details. I wanted more descriptions of milking the cows and how the baseball gloves smelled like leather and how the plane and new town maybe seemed too strong and bright and shiny. Doing so would add a sense of tension and contrast that I think is needed past his conflict with his parents. I also would like to understand why his dad gave him the money and the note. Pardon my pun but it seemed way out of left field. Why did his dad do that? What did he end up doing? I want to know if he played ball again or milked cows.

Sky, Bar

"Assignment: Write a poem about a place. Use Iambic Pentameter."

The smoke curls into the music’s soft beat,

Crushed plastic cups amidst broken bottles,

Guitars scratch while lights flash on dancing feet,

Swaying as they sing, fair faces mottled.

Sticky air matches sweaty tabletops,

Grimy shoes crunching to midnight’s raw throb,

The next table neighbors taking more shots,

Smell, puke on the floor from Kelly the slob.

This is nothing like your green mountain trails,

Where air is crisp and stars smile not scream.

Vomit or pine straw, ash or fresh gale,

Not vodka, my dear, but taste the pure stream.

The Birth of a Book

Enjoy, I know I did.

http://vimeo.com/glenmilner/birthofabook

Response to Kody Blackwell's, "Whatever Gods May Be"

Kody Blackwell’s story, “Whatever Gods May Be” is the story of a small town southern man, named Thomas Abrams, losing his faith. The story begins with vivid imagery of Abrams’ first Sunday as Preacher at his local church. We learn he used to coach Football at the school there and served as a Deacon in the church until he had to step up and serve as the Head Pastor. Things seem to be going swell for him and his wife and then we learn she is pregnant! Time passes and it seems like after his visit to the retirement home is when his change begins. He begins to shift from a devout believer who reads his Bible daily and lives by what it says to a doubting Thomas. Quick aside, I think changing the title to Doubting Thomas would be marvelous. I digress. The story ends with Thomas and his very pregnant wife leaving the church after he walked up to the pulpit and proclaimed he just can’t teach something he doesn’t believe in himself. Because of fear of having no job and a kid on the way he lets Bert pay for them for a while. His wife gives birth to a boy that they name Thomas.

I thought it was a well-developed story with a great setting. I thought your characters were well-portrayed versions of real people here in the South and that made your story and characters easily relatable. What I just couldn’t pinpoint was exactly what made him lose his faith. I understand he began to doubt it but I didn’t quite understand why. Especially when all in his life seems to be going so well! Is it not usually a dramatic life event that causes “religious” folk to waver and at times turn their back on their gods? I want to know how he justified quitting and see more of an internal struggle about it. A little more conflict from those in the community around him after he quits would be nice to. Just a small suggestion: earlier I said change the title to Doubting Thomas but I take that back. Maybe just “Doubt.” I think giving the main character a different Biblical name such as Abraham or maybe Cain if ya want to get real metaphorical and then naming the child Thomas would produce a more powerful effect. I enjoyed reading your writing and again, I hope to read the final product.