The American Dream?

As an American citizen, it is not uncommon to hear of the famed "American Dream." It is almost impossible, however, to manufacture a single meaning for this phrase. It has held multiple meanings throughout the history of our nation and today, it varies by person.
The Founding Fathers defined the American Dream as "life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness." The original Americans strove to be independent and have freedoms that were not available under the King's rule. For this reason, the writers of the constitution included those words in the document. Though wealth and fame were desired, they were not something that all people strove for.
In today's society, the "American Dream" has a different meaning for each individual. The majority of people strive to achieve the ideal life which consists of wealth, popularity and prosperity. Everyone would love to have a big house, nice car and gorgeous family. However, each person desires a different degree of this "perfect" life. Some are happy with living a moderate lifestyle while others must have the largest house and best clothes to be happy. All in all, the rich and famous lifestyle is the common dream for Americans.

Old Faithful

It was the middle of my eighth grade year. My best friends and I were sitting at our usual table at lunch eating Taco Bell. My friend Sarah had finished her first taco and was getting ready to eat her second. She absolutely loved sour cream, so she saved the majority of it for her last taco and was ecstatic about how amazing this glorious food would taste. My other friend Betsy, who was sitting across from Sarah, had completed her meal and was sipping on her Coke while chatting with Sarah and I.
At the opposite end of the table, my friends Cami and Walker were carrying on a conversation about Cami's "brownie log" and how it strikingly resembled a pice of dog excrement. Being the nosey middle schoolers that we were, we listened to their conversation and chuckled at their obvious lack of maturity. Suddenly, my friend Casey realized that it was almost time for lunch to end and yelled across the table for my acquaintances to "clean that crap up!" Betsy, realizing the irony of that statement, immediately spewed her mouthful of Coke across the table where it engulfed Sarah's precious taco.
Devistated by the obvious destruction of her prize possesion, Sarah burst into tears and exclaimed that her day had been ruined by the "fountain of soda." With suppressed laughter, we labeled Betsy as Old Faithful because of her apparent resemblance to the geyser and to this day, the name stuck. Oh, the joys of middle school.

Lasagna (:

The lasagna I had for dinner tonight was made of ground beef from somewhere in the US, tomatoes from Georgia (they were bought at a local produce store), cheese from the US (maybe Wisconsin...), Italian spices from overseas, and noodles made from grains probably grown in the US. The salad accompanying my lasagna consisted of iceberg lettuce, spinach and cucumbers, all grown in the US (bought from Publix), cheese from the US, and ranch dressing with ingredients most likely grown within the US.
Looking at these ingredients, it's pretty obvious that most of my meal was grown or produced in the US, showing that we have a very well rounded agricultural system. The various climates and terrains across the country allow the US to grow just about anything, from wheat to tomatoes, while leaving plenty of room for livestock. This is a huge reason that our country can export larger amounts of food products than we have to import.
Also, this meal was fairly healthy; most of the lasagna was made by hand so it wasn't extremely processed and parts of the salad were "organic." I'm sure, however, that the vegetables and beef had their fair share of hormones and chemicals despite being "fresh" and not frozen.