Research Prospectus II

1)      For the first research assignment, I blogged about reality TV shows and how they are not truly, “reality”, but I realized that this topic would be very difficult to write about for an entire research paper. So, I after I looked through a few articles, I decided that childhood obesity would be a very interesting topic to write about. This topic is everywhere in the news and it is the subject to extreme controversy because politicians are making childhood obesity a political issue by blaming the school systems, whereas doctors and physicians are blaming parents and poor lifestyle choices.

2)       My prospected thesis is childhood obesity is a direct result of poor lifestyle choices by Americans.

3)      A few possible points I could cover in my paper to support my thesis are how lifestyles of families have changed over the past few decades (ie greater percentage of Americans eat fast food more often), children have become couch potatoes and are not playing outside to get some fresh air and exercise, some believe the government should pass laws to prevent the American population from becoming even more obese than they already are, but it should not the government responsibility or the burden of the schools systems.

4)       A counterargument could be that we are becoming a super-sized population because of our addiction to high fructose corn syrup, not a direct result of our lifestyle choices. Since the food companies have substituted high fructose corn syrup for sugar, the amount Americans who are obese have increased tenfold. The reason why it is hard for Americans to lose weight or cut out high fructose containing products is because it has a chemical in it that makes us addicted to it.

5)      Some possible research I would perform would be looking through academic journals and newspaper articles on the differing lifestyle choices of Americans (ie more fast food and take out, less exercise, eat bigger portions).

6)      One article that I will really support my argument is an E-journal entitled “Childhood Obesity”.

Another article that would support my argument is an E-journal “Obesity reviews”.

One other possible source is an E-book entitled “Childhood obesity: factors affecting physical activity”.

7)      I believe this issue would not be very difficult to write about since it’s a very popular issue in the media right now. I still think I will change my thesis to expand beyond the claim that obesity rates only are increasing because of lifestyle choices.

The Achievement of Desire

This is definitely my favorite piece we have read in class so far. I can really relate to this article, especially when he talks about shutting himself off from his family so he could read and study. In high school, I would hide from my family so I could have peace and quiet while I studied. Even though I’m still in undergrad, I do have this feeling of nostalgia when it comes to my family and the way things used to be before I started getting really involved in school and sports. I have missed out on so many family dinners and events because I have been too busy studying. But, even though I ignored my family when I studied, my mom was very active in my education. I did not want her bothering me, but she would always make sure I was on top of my school work and keeping my grades up. The author, Rodriguez, was very self-motivated and his parents were not very involved in his education, which sounds idea, but I don’t know how he managed it all all by himself.  All of those years my mother bothered me about school work, even though I just wanted to be alone, helped shape me into the student I am now and I don't know where I would be academically if  she hadn't been there for me.

oppss

I just realized I spelled the author's name wrong. It's Biss, not "Bliss". That would be so ironic if Bliss was actually her name and she wrote about pain and suffering... just throwing that out there...

The Pain Scale

Honestly, I really didn't comprehend this article entirely until I read it for the second time. This is a very dense article, but all in all, I think this article is emphasizing the fact that everyone has different levels of pain they are willing to tolerate before it really starts to bother them. It's funny that we read this article this week because in my forensic anthropology class, we are learning about how people respond to different levels of pain. An athlete (especially a male athlete) is expected to tolerate higher levels of pain, otherwise he's considered a wimp if he complains. One who is not an athlete would probably be really uncomfortable if they experienced the amount of pain an Olympic athlete deals with on a daily basis. Bliss mentioned that "after a year of pain, I realized that I could no longer remember what it felt like not to be in pain" (178). I believe most athletes agree with this statement because they become so used to the fact that they have this ache or pain while they perform, that as time goes by, they don't remember what it was like not to have this pain while training. But, as I said before, yeah as time progresses one may not notice their pain as much, but how does one actually measure pain?? Measuring one's level of pain is entirely subjective, what's painful for one person may not bother another in the slightest bit. I did agree with Bliss when she mentioned "the pain scale measures only the intensity of pain, not the duration" (179). Someone could be suffering from a chronic disease that they've had their entire life while someone else could be suffering from an serious injury that occurred at last night's soccer match; both are suffering, but these two levels of pain are entirely different because of their duration. The person with the most recent injury knows that his/her injury will eventually pass while the other's chronic illness "is terrifying not because of any specific torture, but because it is eternal" (179).

Pollan Article

In the article "Why Bother?" Michael Pollan explains why an individual should bother going green while the rest of the country is waiting for a quick-fix solution from environmentalists and politicians. Pollan says that there are a plethora of excuses why one does not choose to go green, but unfortunately, when and if we decide to change our lifestyle, it would probably be too late. The author mentions the fact that we, as a society, are waiting for a “quick-fix” solution to fix our current environmental problem, but this “quick fix” is what  “helped get us into this mess in the first place” (91). He explains that if one does decide to change their lifestyle and become more environmentally friendly, it will encourage others to green as well. Pollan elaborates further by saying one's actions will not go unnoticed because “if enough other people bother,  each one influencing yet another in a chain reaction of behavioral change" (92). One very thought provoking example of going green Pollan suggests in his article is to have Americans grow their own food. He believes that this won’t solve the overall problem directly, but by planting a garden, one can “change the cheap-energy mind” by making Americans less dependent on corporations and politicians to solve all of their problems, environmental ones included (93).  (221 words)

Reality TV Shows

I have to admit, I really enjoy watching reality TV programs. I'm kind of embarassed to admit my love for reality TV because I think it has lost it's original focus: which is to film interesting people (or whoever the media thinks we give a crap about) to show us, the America people, what their life is actually like. Over the past decade, these television programs have become the most popular shows on air. Even though I throughly enjoy Keeping up with the Kardasians and Real Housewives, these shows are in no way, shape or form "reality" TV.  These two shows, and most of the other reality shows on air, are staged and scripted. Back when reality shows were first introduced, yeah, I believe they were real depictions of people's lives, but now they are the furtherest thing from reality. Ok I guess some scenes filmed are actually real life, but a majority of the scenes are not real. For example, on the latest episode of Keeping up with the Kardasians, Kris Humphries proposed to Kim. But the proposal aired on the show wasn't the actual proposal, Kim's mother, who's also named Kris, weird I know, signed a contract saying that their "reality" show could now be scripted.  So, in other words, they staged a proposal of Kris asking Kim to marry him after he already proposed to her. I think that's just strange. Honestly, when stations script their reality shows, the programs lose their original charm and appeal. I've always believed that real life stories and events are more interesting than made up ones, hence the attractiveness of reality TV.  Just an FYI to the E network, when you write a script for a TV show, it's called a sitcom or a drama, not a reality show.