Final reflection

          My topic has developed greatly since the topic selection assignment. At the beginning, my topic was very narrow in scope only dealing with food safety with respect to the government. My thesis started out as “The government is responsible for keeping the food safe, but is grossly failing to do so.” As it was developed throughout the semester it was significantly broadened for the exploratory essay. My question was “Why is food awareness and safety poor in the United States.” I delved into the numerous causes ranging from a cultural issue, the growth of a fast food nation, and the government not doing its duty. Then, for the final essay I picked my strongest argument to support my claim; that it was a cultural issue. My thesis for the final essay was “Americans really need to acknowledge that food safety and awareness is a growing issue in the United States because the American culture calls and allows for a very unhealthy lifestyle.”
           My research greatly shaped my ideas and more specifically my claim. As I researched, I saw a trend that Americans as whole allow themselves to remain clueless on a dangerous issue. I saw that obesity rates were climbing in every state, the number of fast food restaurants growing exponentially and parents still unable to pass basic health literacy tests. What good is a nutritional label if one cannot comprehend what is even on it? More and more awareness is being brought to this issue of unhealthy living but no one still seemed to care about it. That is when I decided that it was indeed a cultural issue. A society that prides itself on multi-tasking and doing every at a fast pace creates a place absent of traditions such as a family dinner with a nice home-cooked meal. All in all, I enjoyed writing this paper and look forward to learning more about the subject while refining the ideas in my paper.

A random thought

I could not think of a subject which has not been discussed yet on this blog. So, I decided to sit down and watch Amelia starring Hilary  Swank and Richard Gere. The men in the video are loving, amiable, and charming. They all kissed her hand and the look alone in their eyes showed how much respect they had for her. She was not the most attractive person but she was courageous and loving. She died July 2, 1937 in the Pacific Ocean. That was 75 years ago, many things have changed especially gas prices, minimum wage, interest rates, etc... Other things have changed as well even though they are minor topics for discussion: music, clothes (even though they are coming back now), technology, language, etc... Men and women have changed as well. Woman are more able to make their own decisions, work, and in ways have become inappropriate. I know that in the pizza place i work i have seen many teenage girls come in who look like they could be working the corners at night. To me, men are the more disappointing aspect that has changed. Men were sweet and polite back in the day. They would open doors and pull out chairs. WHAT HAPPENED TO THAT?? HAS CHIVALRY DIED?? Where have the gentlemen gone?

I appreciate and love my boyfriend because he acts like a gentlemen. I find him attractive for this reason, among others, and i find him to be the exception to the men and boys i see today in society. They do not act polite or even publicly acceptable sometimes.

But do movies portray the past times too polished, and men really were not actually as chivalrous as i imagine? 

Personal Appearance and Finding Jobs

We all know that in today's world finding a job is really hard. People will go years constantly filling out applications and sending in resumes. We have to change so much about ourselves too just to find a good job. I saw a picture last night (http://28.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_lg8flpAftJ1qh1whgo1_500.jpg) and it really got me thinking. Is it fair for a company to judge you on how you dress or how many tattoos you have. I have big holes in my ears (stupid idea), and I know that it's going to affect how people look at me if I still have them when I go get a job. I've also been dying to get a tattoo, but that will just lower my chances. There are a lot of people out there that get thrown under the bus because of personal experiences they make, and to me that's not fair at all. I would have never have though that the guy in the picture was a doctor, and that is sad that I too judged him off of his appearance. I think that so many qualified people are being tossed out the window which is disappointing. Companies and employers need to start realizing that they are in for a big wake up. Our generation is expressing itself physically more than any other generation in the past. Tattoos, guys with piercings, and anything else that is considered unprofessional are becoming more common now. What do you think? Should we clean ourselves up to get a job? Or should we be able to do whatever we want with how we look?  

What do you spend your money on ?

Before this year, I never thought so much about what I spend my money on.  I am not the greatest saver, I constantly shop.  Being in college has really been a wake up call for me! Money doesn't grow on trees, and now that I have a checkbook to balance and bills to pay, I am paying attention more and more to what I am spending my money on.  After looking at my bills this last month, I realized I spend way to much on clothes, shoes, etc.  Does anyone else here have this problem!? Guys, maybe for you its other things like sporting events and video games or even detailing your car.  I just need to find ways to stop spending my money so easily ! If any of you are great at saving your money, how do you do it? When do you think its okay to spend? I work in a clothing store so it may be harder for me to save than most people, but I am sure some of you do too.  I would appreciate advice/ comments so I know that I am not alone :) !

Summer Break =)

I’m wondering how everybody feels about this year coming to an end. Some of my friends are so excited to go home and others wish there was more than a few weeks left. Are you ready to go home and enjoy summer or are some of you going to miss the college life? I know a lot of students were excited to come to college and be on their own, others were homesick for months. How did adjust after the move? (for those of you who live on campus lol) As for myself in August of 2011 I was so ready to be on my own and move 4 hours away from home, now I can’t wait to be back in Chicago! Don’t get me wrong, I love college and I’ll miss some of the friends but I am so ready for this break. I can’t wait to be at home and not have to worry about when my next paper is due or when I have to turn in my homework. That for me had to be the most stressful part of college. Now I have a few months to get away from the pressure and not to mention I will be able to relax and have more days to sleep in. So, how do you feel about the upcoming summer break? Do you wish we had a little bit more time here or are you just as happy as I am to go back home and spend time with your friends and family? It is right around the corner are you ready for it?

Final Course Reflection

Since the topic selection essay my topic has stayed the same.  The topic had to be relevant to me and education or the work force.  I chose Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) as my topic because I am infected with MRSA got infected at school.  Many people do not know about the severity of the issue and how easy it is to spread the infection.  As I developed my thoughts into the exploratory essay I realized that I did not have much of an argument.  I talked with Mr. Eagan and found that I did have an argument it was just more of an informative argument.  My claim started off as awareness and prevention of MRSA in schools but later turned into the school’s budget and redirecting money to hold assemblies taught about MRSA and bacterial infections/diseases.  I really saw my claim coming together in the second draft of my exploratory essay when I started getting a head start on the research essay.  As I was researching I decided to ask my former principal how much money our high school got and where that money went.  After he told me I realized that there was a problem in the system because none of the money was going towards health assemblies and I believe that it should.   When I looked further into how assemblies were beneficial in other schools I realized that that was going to be my main focus of prevention style.  Other programs in other states were successful (even if they were not health-related) so I thought that they could work and open students eyes to see how bad MRSA really is.  My main points in my final essay focused on awareness, prevention, and how programs work.  I went into depth in each of these categories and backed up my thoughts with facts and statistics.  Overall I think that my final paper has a lot of good points that school board members should consider and realize that some of the money needs be redirected to bring awareness of MRSA (and other health-related issues) to students in order to stop the spread.

Final Course Reflection

My topic has drastically changed throughout this process. I was able to use portions of my older papers and add them to the final project but having to drastically change the point of view. I feel like I began to really understand what I was trying to say and express through the final paper. I feel that my claim became stronger and I was able to really understand what I wanted to focus on talking about throughout the rest of my paper. I saw my claim coming together when I edited my paper the first time. I was able to identify it more clearly. I feel like I found very reliable resources that actually began pushing me more in depth throughout my paper. I actually found about five books through the love joy library on campus and ended up barely utilizing the resources. The ones that I chose to primarily use were in my own house. I was struggling on trying to find an opposing view point for my paper and I tried to look outside of the box to find a solution for it and I am actually very happy with how it turned out.  My final project will focus on the element of trying to motivate one to reach and find it within them to obtain their own American Dream. I feel that a lot of people become comfortable with where they are at in their lives and they being to stop pushing themselves to really fulfill their dreams. Yes, my focal points throughout all of my papers have drastically changed especially because of the type of papers that we had to write. This paper overall has probably been my most proud piece to turn in because I have been able to view this topic from all views and stand points. Thank you for assigning this project, even though it involved a lot of insight and hard work, I feel that the way you presented this information to us was very useful and enlightening.