Rhetorical Analysis Of 'Guerilla Gardener In A Food Desert'

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Guerilla Gardener in a Food Desert Ron Finley: A guerilla gardener in South Central LA is the TED Talk video selected for this reaction paper and the talk tells us how one man was resourceful enough to take what he called "home of the drive-thru and the drive-by" and a "food desert" and build food gardens for all to share and be changed by. On stage, Ron Finley is clearly a man with a sense of humor and knack for keeping his message real. For example, when city planners attempted to rebrand South Central Los Angeles to South Los Angeles, he simply went through his slides with photos of the neighborhood again, calling it South Los Angeles with liquor stores, fast food, and vacant lots. A great ice breaker for the audience that let us know that he knew that more than a simple name change was needed to fix what’s wrong with his food desert. He went on to share that South Central LA is not the only food desert in United States, there are 26.5 million Americans living in food deserts. But, what makes his food desert different from some in this country, is that the "drive-thrus are killing more people than the drive-bys." For example, people are dying from curable diseases. The obesity rate is 5 times higher than it is in Beverly Hills just 8-10 miles away. He was tired of seeing what was happening in his …show more content…

Gardening is Finley's graffiti and art. He believes that the gardens are meant to be shared with all and used as a tool to educate and transform his community. The gardens help change and develop the lives and future of children and young people. He believes to make change, you have to focus on the community and change the composition of the soil. The people are the soil. Finley’s plans for the garden include getting people to grow their own food, open farmer's markets, and make healthy cafes out of shipping

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