Going Mongo

                Driving down the street of a residential area, I see it all the time, people putting their unwanted things, usually furniture, on the curb. I also see the “free” signs that are carefully placed on top of couches, chairs, and many other items for others to others to take notice. But I had never heard the term mongo until I read the article on trash. Robin Nagel (click here) described the term as “people who take things from the trash to keep.”

                Okay, I know that we are all familiar with the term mongo after reading the article, but until I read about it, I had no idea there even was a name for taking someone else garbage and reusing it for one's self. I myself have never participated in either end of mongoing, but I have seen others take ugly discarded objects and turn art works out of the garbage. Which is why, when I read further in the article and Nagel stated that she wanted a museum with a “mongo collection, “it reminded me of the artists I have seen taking part of the mongo movement. It amazes me what people can see in meaningless waste and turn it into something useful again, or something spectacular. I, on the other hand, lack the eye to see something amazing that’s wet and dirty with a “for free” sign sitting on the curb, so I marvel at those who do have the talent and act upon the opportunity.        

Research Topic

For my research paper I’m interested in looking into logging and forests. The reason being that I have lived up in the mountains most of my life, and have almost had my house burned down by a fire or two that have been known to plague Western Montana. As a result my question(s) would be: what would be best for the environment with the preservation of trees, and is it better to let nature take its course? However, I’m still not entirely sure how to go about this and it’s still very likely that I will have more questions, but at this moment in time I’m drawing a blank for the issue.

The same as Sandwich

For over a year and a half I worked in a high end gourmet restaurant. And through that time I worked my way up the food chain to become what was called in the kitchen a “make shift food prep cook.” I learned how to chop, sauté, bake, you name it I probably cooked it. I cooked anything from pasta’s to deliciously baked breads. One of the requirements of the kitchen was that, when it’s time for lunch, make it yourself. So there I was on my first day and had thousands of ingredients at my disposal to make whatever I wanted, and with so many possibilities the choice was impossible to make; one of my co-workers was making a ham and cheese sandwich, so I decided to make one for myself. But here’s a little bit of truth for you, until then I had never eaten a ham and cheese in my life, so when I first ate it I was surprised I liked it so much because I’m not a huge ham fan. And with that first bite of the ham and cheese I was hooked.


Why such the long story, about a sandwich and for most people would make the list of “the best food they’ve ever eaten.” I think that the sandwich is way underrated. I don’t know any student that doesn’t live off the sandwich in one form or another, from eating Hot Pockets, to buying a readymade sandwich at the market.

But who was the first to make the sandwich, the main source of substance that feeds most college students? Well his name was Rabbi Hillel the Elder (see here for more). Rabbi Hillel lived in the first century B.C. and started mixing chopped nuts, apples, spices and wine between two slices of unleaded bread that are eaten over pass over called the matzos, and so we can concluded that the first recorded sandwich was made. But it wouldn’t be tell John Montagu, the Fourth Earl of Sandwich, ordered the first sandwich at a restaurant, that we would get the name (see here for more). And yes, this is the same guy who sailed with Captain Cook, who named the Hawaiian Islands the Sandwich Islands after Montagu. Apparently the legend has it that John Montagu, the Earl of Sandwich, was an addicted gambler. One night Montagu was at the gambling table all night and too absorbed in gambling that he didn’t pay attention to his stomach, until finally he ordered his valet to bring him salted meat, cheese, bread, and some liquor. He then stuck the meat and cheese between two slices of bread, so he could continue to play with one hand. The other men at the gambling table began to order “the same as Sandwich.”

What I love about the Sandwich is that we can make it as healthy or as fattening as we want. It’s all up to the mood we're in while making or ordering one. 

A Good Read for the Indecisive Person

My name is Connie, and I’m from a small town that’s about forty miles south of Missoula. I am currently undecided on the major but I am interested in Elementary education. I don’t know really what to say of myself other than, I’m a very undecided-decisive person (if that makes sense to anyone, and I know it doesn’t).


But if someone really wants to get to know me they have to know that my reading habits are currently non-existent. I use to read more back in the beginning of high school because I had time to read, but as of right now I, unfortunately, have no time to read. However, when I do read, I read from just about any genre. But I can’t seem to say what a good read might be, or what book to recommend because well…I am a very harsh book critic. I don’t like most books because the books are usually too predictable for my liking. But I have to say that the classics are easily the best: such as Dickens, Jane Austen, and Hans Christian Anderson. But I know that the assignment is to recommend a book so I guess I’d say that if anyone has to read a book go with one of Jane Austen’s books just for the fact that she was an amazing author who shined in a field where being a female author was just about unheard in that era  as well as she set an incredible example for further generations to follow. Nonetheless, I normally don’t have such a strong opinion on what a good read is, so when asked by anyone to give an opinion on what my favorite book might be to recommend my usual response is “I have no idea.”