Not Your Typical Fruit

“Southern trees bear a strange fruit / Blood on the leaves and blood at the root / Black bodies swingin' in the Southern breeze” (Meeropol 1-3). “Strange Fruit” is written by Abel Meeropol and published in 1937. Abel Meeropol is a jewish teacher; he adopted two boys whose parents were executed. When Meeropol saw an image of a lynching he got inspired to write an anit-lynching poem. It is a dark poem that creates a gruesome image to make you realize the truth of lynching.

The avocado, also known as Persea Americana, is a tree that is native to Mexico and America and has an extensive history. Originating as early as 7,000 and 5,000 B.C in south-central Mexico, it would take several thousand years before avocados became native in America. According to the California Avocado Commission: “Archaeologists in Peru have found domesticated avocado seeds buried with Incan mummies dating back to 750 B.C. and there is evidence that avocados were cultivated in Mexico as early as 500 B.C.” (“The History of California Avocados,” 2016). Avocados then continued their journey from when they were first originated to being discovered in the 16th century by the Spanish conquistadores. With their discovery, the Spanish conquistadores soon came to realize that they had trouble pronouncing the Aztec word “ahuacate”, so they changed it to “aguacate.” Farmers later changed aguacate to the English word we know today, avocado. Farmers changed it in fear that Americans would not be able to pronounce “aguacate” once they tried to sell the fruit. The avocado, along with it’s new name, was successful in the market as farmers would later discover. (Yoon, 2006).

The banana industry has long been the center of controversy. In some instances, the banana has been the necessary means for countries to become economically and politically powerful; however, in other instances it has been a hindrance leading to complete dependency and the decline in other industries. Since the banana has turned into a leading crop for a number of countries, the struggle to control production and distribution is at an all-time rise, thus creating the “banana wars.”

Jazz identifies as America’s indigenous art form, having its birth and evolution in the United States. Since then, jazz symbolically links to the civil rights movement. In the 1900s, jazz entertained, affected, and inspired Americans; it contributed to and reflects the American culture. Jazz emerged during a period of urban and industrial growth or age of prosperity in the late 19th Century, also known as the Gilded Age. It constantly reflects the social, political, and economic struggles in American cities such as those seen in the Civil Rights Movement, Jim Crow Laws, and the Great Depression and not exclusive to the fluctuating reputation of American culture throughout

Bananas and plantains (Musa spp.) are one of the major staple foods in the world. In 2006 the estimated world production of bananas was 80.6 million tons while 16.8 tons were traded (Cohen, 2011). Although bananas are common today, the origins of the banana are complex and occurred over thousands of years during multiple stages. Archeologists focused on the Kuk Valley of New Guininea, the area where the domestication of bananas supposedly took place around 8,000 BCE (Before Common Era) (Bot, 2007). The study of banana history has been difficult because banana pollen and seeds were rare or absent at archaeological sites. It wasn’t until recent technologies and the use of multi-disciplinary research that we could gain a better understanding. Genetics and linguistic studies also help in understanding the banana origin (Hirst, 2015). Diploid and triploid forms of bananas have been identified and their distribution throughout the world is a key piece of evidence in unlocking the truth about banana domestication.

As we continue our march through the technological age, it is easy to see how technologies have affected all parts of our day-to-day lives. In “Sinister Fruitiness,” Stevens writes about how pervasive technologies have changed human existence in developed countries. Written in the mid-90s, before the real surge of internet and digital innovation, Stevens was already commenting on how people had begun to align their circadian rhythms so that their days gave them convenient windows to log-in and check their e-mails (414). Socializing has changed as the imbrication of physical and digital realities continues to intensify. Our body-language skills continue to erode in an age of remote interaction, where people are accustomed to documenting and narrating their lives for “on-line friends, many of whom we’ve never met” (414). In Neuromancer, Gibson portrays a technology-rich cyberpunk world whose synthesis of computer-science and biology seems predictive of our current social direction. In Gibson’s world, technological progress has had a significant effect on gender norms, as genderless cyber-space and cyborg body transformations muddle the basic biological distinctions between man and woman. As part of a postmodern commentary, Gibson uses technology as a gender-deconstructing tool, highlighting present-day patriarchal gender

It is important to create genetically different bananas in case the Cavendish crop fails because if that and banana dies out then it will cost the US so much money. Farmers need to start planting more different varieties of bananas and case the Cavendish crop fails they will have another banana to fall back on. Farmers need to be planting more different varieties of plants because if a disease comes through and Strikes in a banana most likely all the other bananas would die. If you have a different variety it will be harder for the disease to kill all of the bananas. Genetic diversity is so important because with genetic diversity you can create many new plants that can be safer and more resistant to

Jeanette Winterson’s novel Oranges Are Not the Only Fruit when published in 1985 as her first novel, it was unanimously regarded as “a realistic and heavily autobiographical comedy of ‘coming out’” (Onega) in which the narrative structure employs elements derived from the Bildungsroman tradition -expression of the heroine’s quest for individuation, as much as a feminist gesture of self-assertion, deployed in a hostile Pentecostal Evangelist environment. The story of young Jeanette, the character, clearly echoes the author’s own story: the protagonist falls in love with another girl, and has to fight her emotional way through the coercive norms of her religious community in the North of England. The novel was read in the light of the emerging

In the mid 1930’s, the south would perform, what they believed to be acts of justice by hanging, or lynching, black men who were convicted of doing a crime. The Poem “Strange Fruit” is an interesting poem depicts a very horrid image of pure racism in the south and how lynchings were such a gruesome image, and was meant to be a “protest against the inhumanity of racism”(Blair) . The poem “Strange Fruit” was published in 1937 by Abel Meeropol after he viewed an image of a lynching that occurred in the south. Meeropol was “‘haunted’” by the image and was inspired to write and publish the poem (Meeropol). Abel Meeropol was already against racism in America and when he saw the appalling image of two African American people being lynched

The refrain “(Men sell not such in any town)” is suggestive of the otherworldly nature of the goblin men, and suggests they come from another realm. This anxiety over the origins of the fruit is echoed by Laura when she dutifully denounces the fruits by saying “who knows upon what soil they fed / their hungry thirsty roots?” (Rossetti, 68) Her words here sound odd as she evidently does not believe them, and she accompanies them by “pricking up her golden head”, which suggests a keen curiosity. The repetition of “We must not look” and “We must not buy” (Rossetti, 68) sound rote-learned and trite, while the repetition of the goblin’s call becomes mesmerising. The fruits are both impossibly seductive and lethal because they are not meant to be consumed by humans, and seemingly cannot be consumed without the purchaser giving up something much more precious than a lock of hair or silver penny, though whether that is their soul or their sexual innocence remains ambiguous.

The desert table is full with different fruit such as apples, raspberries, cherries, peaches, pears, and the branches full with grapes hanging in the side. The artist uses the fruit colors as symbols to express the type of life people used to live in that time such as love and happiness.

Bananas are eaten more than apples and oranges together and are considered the world’s most popular fruit,people who like bananas eat about 27 pounds of them a year.Bananas should be elevated because they need good air circulation around and underneath of them.If bananas are left just

Six firms dominated the banana industry in the early 1990’s, three from Europe and three from the United States. In 1994, the three United States producers, Chiquita, Dole, and Del Monte, accounted for approximately 72.4% of world banana sales. Chiquita accounted for 48% of worldwide banana sales and 66.4% of banana sales of the three U.S. producers.

Brought over from Spain to Mexico in the 1500’s, the blood peach has now made its way to the southeastern United States. The blood peach was grown by a very famous American, Thomas Jefferson grew and 38 different types of peaches. Now the blood peach can be found in roadside fruit stands, not typically found in the grocery stores.

Qualitatively, banana ripening can be measured by the color of the peel, degree of hardness, and aromatic properties for this is an indicator of the level of ethylene exposure and state of ripeness A banana unexposed to a significant amount of ethylene has a green peel. This is due to the high concentration of chlorophyll; however, as this banana comes in contact with more ethylene enzymes break down chlorophyll into other various compounds (carotenoids, anthocyanin, etc.) with different pigments.2 Likewise, as ripening continues, pectin is broken down by pectinase, softening the banana. Finally, banana ripeness can be determined by the aroma, for an unripe banana is lacking the fragrant esters associated with a banana that has been exposed to sufficient amounts of ethylene.1 These methods are general recognized as reliable indicators of banana maturity; however, scientific analysis can also be conducted on the banana to determine the degree of