Shayne Wireman ENGL 121 @shaynew121 - Tumblr Blog

Reflective Essay Summary

Overall in my reflective essay I wrote about how I really enjoyed the class and believe everything we did led up to our final paper. I liked how the aspects of the paper, like memory and source work, were broken up so that we could focus on them separately. We could then give each one the attention that it needed and it only made it easier to combine for the final research paper. I also said that I think tumblr helped with the research process, that it kept us looking for sources and information even when we were out of class. We might not have used all of the sources and information but it kept us thinking about our topics more than just two days a week. I also talked about the CSW and how it helped us summarize our papers into one idea. We could get our ideas across to an audience with just a simple "artifact" or display. I also enjoyed seeing other people's topics and seeing how they transformed their paper into something visual or kinesthetic. Once again I really liked the class and think it was successful in reaching the course and learning outcomes.

CSW Interview

One of the researchers I talked to as I walked around the ballroom at the Celebration of Student Writing was Robert Beck. His instructor in Jonah Mixon-Webster and the title of his project was Paying College Athletes. The medium of his project, which is what got me most interested in his project was a debate. Jonah his instructor was kind of the referee and person who asked Robert’s question, as any person walking by could sit down and have a debate with a real division 1 college athlete.

The research question Robert focused on was whether or not college athletes should be paid. To look into this he dealt with EMU student athletes and looked into the NCAA and other ideas that people are for or against. Doing this he mainly used source work, pulling stats and information from their sites and past issues and regulations. However he didn’t do an interview but having the medium that he used to present his research, it kind of turned out to be one. He used an EMU wrestler that the people stopping by would sit down and converse and debate against. So he had someone who is very knowledgeable in the field and topic help support and spread the ideas of his research.

So his presentation wasn’t anything special. It was two chairs, one being for his “expert” and the other being for any passerby who wanted to talk about the topic. His instructor stood there and read questions from cards Robert made that would get the information he researched into the conversation and debate. Standing there and listening to the facts and conversations, the most interesting thing I found out was that schools lose more money on some athletic programs than they actually gain from. It is the big sports like basketball and football that primarily bring money in for the athletic department and college.

When I asked Robert why he decided to use this style to present his research, he said he knew he didn’t want a poster or something where the information was just laid out in front of you. He explained how his instructor helped him come up with the idea and that he really liked it. The people that entered the debate or conversation got some true information from someone that has experienced college athletics. It wouldn’t be the same if Robert just stood there and explained all of the ideas that college athletes have. It is one on one with an athlete with their true opinion on the issue.

Overall the CSW was a neat experience. I saw a lot of people there I knew and it was nice to see what they worked on. Which is what the CSW’s goal is, to allow all the students to share all the research that they have been doing all semester. It is way better than just giving it to your professor and that is the only person who got to see and hear about it. It also shows us how much time and effort goes into research and presenting it. People take a lot of time and are proud in what they come up with, and others appreciate it as well. Overall I noticed however a lot of it was posters, which I also had a poster but had more to it. It was really cool when you came across peoples’ projects like Roberts, as it was different from all the other projects. However no matter what the medium of presentation was, it still allowed the researcher to have something other than their paper that they could use to show and explain their ideas to other people.

samantham121

So we all know how important water is for us, and we all know how important it is to eat our fruits and vegetables well eating the right one can kind of kill two birds with one stone. I also think its funny cause may favorite fruits are on here. During the summer everyone love fruits and kit is no surprise why.

Also I recently heard that watermelon juice is what your supposed to drink after a work out. The vitamins in it are supposed to be good with cramping, and with the water content so high.

shaynew121

A lot of our water comes from the food we eat. Plants, and the fruits they create, contain as stated primarily water. This could relate to my research topic as it revolves around water. The same toxins and minerals that are in water can show up in plants. Plants take up the water in the ground and transport it through the plant to be used for processes such as photosynthesis and fruit production. Since water makes up most of the fruits, the minerals and toxins in the water can get concentrated in the plants. However a lot of times this affects the plant and could kill it so it wouldn't affect us directly. However this is just another problem that water pollution can cause.

dylans121

This was an article I found that talked about some effects eating junk food has on a person’s body. One thing they say that junk food effects is a person’s energy levels. A person that eats a lot of junk food is likely to be feeling more fatigued or have a lack of energy because fast food does not have nutrients in it to keep a person healthy. Another thing that junk food effects is performance and weight. Fast food has a lot of fats and sugars in it which leads to obesity. Also, one’s performance will be lower because a person will feel tired and they may have trouble concentrating. A third thing that junk food effects is a person’s liver and heart. Tons of sodium and fat6 are in fast food which contributes to heart disease and liver dysfunction. A fourth and final thing is that lots of junk food can lead to diabetes. This can happen from the high levels of sugar and carbohydrates that are in fast food.

shaynew121

I can personally say I have personal experience with this. Wrestling has a lot to do with eating right and cutting weight. However you can't just keep eating all the junk food you want and just cut down on the amount of it while you are watching your weight. A strict diet needs to be followed as to give you enough energy to get through all your workouts but still not put on weight. Strategic choices of the right amounts of fats, proteins, sugars, and carbs need to be thought out. One can really tell if someone is following the their diet regime as their attitude and performance are affected. If someone just kept eating junk food they are gonna be tired all the time and won't be able to make it through practices and matches. I can definitely feel the difference in how I feel when I eat healthier.

Memo 5

For my CSW I am thinking to do something with a water bottle/water. My topic is about how factory farms affect the water quality in the water system. I have had a couple ideas but they mainly all have to do with water bottles. I will for sure have a water bottle but what I do with it can vary. The water bottle is the only thing I can think of that gives me an actual object that is strongly correlated with the topic.

One idea I had was of turning it into almost like a poster but it would be laying down and more visual. I would make it look like the water bottle is pouring out onto the paper and put facts and visuals from ideas in my paper. I could make it look like certain things are in the water which I could then put facts on. This would be very visual and something a person walking by could take a quick glance at and understand what my research was about. It also wouldn't take up any more space than a small poster. It could just easily be laid out on the table without much explanation.

My other idea is similar by having a poster with facts and maybe a picture of a farm drawn on it. I would then have multiple water bottles with different amounts of dye, like food coloring, in them so it shows the pollution in the water from around the farm. Once again very visual, very self explanatory, and doesn't take up that much space. Both ideas wouldn't be that hard to make up either. Some art supplies and water bottles would be it.

Looking at the two ideas, I think they are visual enough and not just a poster. I can't really think of anything else that could get the main points of my paper across. Both don't take up much space and someone can come over and just look at it. It uses water bottles which everyone knows and connects them back to my topic of what is getting into our water from factory farming.

deirdrey121-blog

There are chemicals and additives we allow in our snacks, drinks and packaged foods that other countries consider so unhealthy, they’ve banned them. What are we talking about? Here’s just one example: Fake coloring that gives those eerie bright hues to boxed mac and cheese, breakfast cereal, candy and soft drinks. Linked to behavioral changes in children, allergies, migraines and possibly cancer, those dyes are banned in several countries plus the United Kingdom — but not in the United States. …

This was a great article. My daughter who is in 7th grade came home from school one afternoon talking about the dangers of BVO, brominated vegetable oil. This is banned in many countries, and although PepciCo is taking it out of Gatorade (thank God) it will continue to be a part of Mountain Dew. Thankfully I do not drink MD, however, still upsetting. I think what bothers me the most is that these companies (Kraft example) will make a safe product to sell in countries where certain substances are illegal, but make the safe product with the dangerous substance to see in the US just because they can. This goes for potassium bromate as well. The more I read, the better my arsenal of weaponry against such chemical. Knowledge is power. I’m learning what not to eat, not to drink, and what not to use on my body. It amazes me that the 7th grader insists on using organic deodorant. The fact that the label read “does not contain aluminum” made me cringe and now the entire household is using organic deodorant. I’m happy that PepsiCo is caving under pressure and changing Gatorade, especially considering my 2nd grader runs cross country and one way we get her to jump to the front of the racing pack is with the allure of Gatorade when she finishes. It’s terrifying to think what was once in the drink.

shaynew121

It bothers me as well how companies change what and how they make the products based on where in the world they are supplying. It all has to do with money. These chemicals they use can either save them money in manufacturing or allow their products to last longer so they don't lose profit. So when it is illegal in a certain country, they know they can still make the product it might just not produce as much profit. However when they can use additives and chemicals they will to increase their profits. It is nice how the public is becoming more and more aware of the what is going on in the food industry. We shouldn't have to be worrying about what is in our food and drinks. Being an athlete I usually drink Gatorade a lot and it is a relief that they are changing it. This is one of the biggest reasons I don't drink pop as lots of research is being done on the additives and chemicals in it and our bodies don't need that.

sarahm121-deactivated20140418

The Obama administration replaced it Thursday with a new icon - a plate half filled with fruits and vegetables, the other half with grains and protein, with a smaller plate representing dairy - touting the symbol’s clear and concise message. Instead of trying to decipher food labels, harried shoppers can stick to the basics by dedicating half the plate to produce; a quarter to protein, including meat, poultry, seafood, eggs, soy and beans; and a quarter to grains such as rice, bread and cereal. The United Fresh Produce Association called MyPlate a “tipping point” that may help to persuade people to eat the proper amounts of fruits and vegetables. “Given the nutrient density of meat and poultry, it requires less space on the plate to offer great nutrition,” James Hodges, president of the foundation, said in a news release. The MyPlate logo comes more than four months after the U.S. Department of Agriculture released new dietary guidelines, promoting more fruits and vegetables and a diet rich in nutrients. The plate is one more step in carrying out the message, said officials, who plan to roll out more of the campaign in later phases, including encouraging people to eat less, switch to fat-free or low-fat milk, choose foods lower in sodium and drink water instead of sugary drinks.

I think that a plate food chart is better than a food pyramid because the pyramid doesn’t exactly show how much what food to eat like the plate. i feel more comfortable with the MyPlate because I understand how much veggies, fruits, grains, dairy, and fats i am allowed to have. i was very pleased to see that nutritionists came up with this explain because of how easy and simple the set up was to eat certain foods at certain amounts. i teach at a daycare and i show the kids there where their foods go on the MyPlate when they pull out their lunches. they enjoy to know that their food that they are eating is healthy and that they can visually see it on the MyPlate.

shaynew121

I also agree I believe this approach is much better than the food pyramid as the pyramid never gave any portion control. This plate food chart is making sure that you get all your necessary food groups while keeping everything in proportion. That is one of the biggest problems with eating is portion control. You can have "junk food" (ice cream, candy, etc.) every once in a while as long as it is in the right amount. This is one of the United States' biggest problem. We feel the need to go big with everything. This plate food chart also reminds me of the change they are making in school lunches. I did a lot of research on school lunches last year and the First Lady created a movement. Every lunch has to have so many different things in it and meet certain requirements. For example, at my school last year if you didn't have a fruit or vegetable on your plate they wouldn't let you buy the lunch.

Plants, Nutrients, and Water

Today I was in my Bio 120 lecture and right now we are on our plant section of the semester. We have been learning about the transportation of water, minerals, and food through the plants. Today we talked about the soil and water that the plants use. So many variables can affect plants in the soil and water. We talked about acid rain enters the soil and doesn't allow roots to pull the positively charged ions that they need from the soil. There was also a connection between something we learned and my interview. I interviewed my grandfather who is a farmer, and he explained the process of crop rotation to me. In class we learned how crop rotation has been around for years as planting the same crop over and over again will deplete the soil of certain nutrients. Most farmers who plant multiple crops, want good yields, and don't want to use a lot of fertilizers rotate crops like soybeans in to add nutrients like nitrogen back into the soil.

http://www.nytimes.com/2007/10/28/world/asia/28iht-china.1.8079045.html?_r=0

This problem is one that I talk a lot about in my paper. It is one of the main problems factory farming is causing. When too many nutrients and fertilizers enter water, the plants and algae use them and start to grow. Then instead of having a nice balance of plants and fish, the plants start to take over. Fish then can't survive and start to die off. Eventually there sill be so many plants that there wont be a lake anymore. I also talked about the costs of this in my paper. With these problems we are just racking up even more ways that we have to spend money to fix things. Instead of paying for multiple things because they are side effects of a major issue, why don't we just fix the issue. China shouldn't have to spend all this money to fix the lake. If pollution was avoided in the first place, they wouldn't be in this situation.

http://www.theinternational.org/articles/258-are-factory-farms-inherently-unsustainabl

This article has a lot to do with an even broader topic of my paper. It explains how factory farming is affecting our environment as a whole. As people see it now, these factory farms are what are feeding us. However are they actually hurting us in the long run. If we don't have an environment to live in, it won't matter what food we have. The article gives statistics and numbers on the methane production and how it affects the atmosphere. The portion that somewhat relates to my paper is the manure. It talks about how manure, if used properly can be a positive by product. Many farmers use it to give their crops extra nutrients to grow. However large factory farms just pump them out, not only wasting the product and energy but also hurting the environment. I just think this is intriguing how many things in our society seem to be the answer, like factory farms, but then come back to hurt us in the end.

i-hear-your-tunes-deactivated20

abrietzke121

People need to realize how important it is to eat a healthy diet as well as train hard. This is the key to true physical fitness as both diet and exercise go hand in hand. America unfortunately, is headed in the wrong direction. Many Americans are eating increasingly unhealthy diets as well as neglecting to participate in enough physical activity to maintain a healthy lifestyle. Americans need to be increasingly made aware of the importance of a healthy lifestyle as Americas overall health is sub par.

annataranto121-blog

Although I agree with the healthy diet aspect of this post, I do not agree that training hard is a necessity. The health of those in this country, on average, is significantly worse than other countries but the fault is on our food. A lack of exercise is only a small contributor. If the majority of the foods we have access to were healthier, I do not believe we would have such a weight/health issue in this country.

gayler121

I do believe that lack of exercise is a strong contributor to obesity in America. Families can be too busy to exercise (with school, work, and other activities), so burning off the calories from our unhealthy foods isn’t happening often enough. The people that I know that do get enough exercise focus on that to the extreme. Focusing on eating healthy and exercising enough both contribute to obesity and health issues.

shaynew121

I also agree that exercise is just an equal contributor as eating healthy. Today we have all these electronics and technology that can do a lot for us. Back in the day they didn't have this and had to do everything themselves. People get confused and think exercise is this huge thing/process. Exercise can be as easy as going outside and doing yard work. Going back to technology, I link this to the major increase in obesity just as much as the changes in our food and diets. I believe it all starts at a young age. This is why I think parents should make their kids participate in a sport of some kind. Yes, they might not be the best at it, but it is a perfect way to get in good exercise and it can broaden social skills as well. So looking at this picture I agree these two components are linked but hard work doesn't necessarily have to look like that.

http://www.nytimes.com/2014/02/12/business/international/modified-corn-a-step-closer-to-approval-in-europe.html

I chose this article as it is another recent example of our food industry acting on the sole purpose of money. I am neutral on the topic of genetically modified foods to an extant. I believe this idea is wrong. First it is wrong looking at the human affect. We have no idea what the implications of this modified corn will be. It could negatively affect our bodies, similar to a lot of other modified foods in the market. It is also wrong looking at an ecosystem stand point. For some insects corn could be their main source of food. Taking this away could then kill off a species and then cause more damages up an ecosystem. I just believe this idea is truly wrong and the only purpose for it is to make money. It seems like the food industry is blinded by green.

deirdrey121-blog

WebMD explores the relationship between food dye and ADHD symptoms. Find out about food coloring and hyperactivity, how diet influences ADHD symptoms, and what steps to take if you suspect an association between food dye and ADHD.

This was another excellent article by WEBMD. Unfortunately they allow quick links to twitter and Facebook but not tumblr. This is unfortunate scenario, because it makes it difficult to share things in this forum. This is the topic of my paper, how does the food we eat today affect ADHD, OCD, autism and other behavior and social problems? Food dye and additive are part of the problem. It’s difficult to get information on these topics, especially specifics. It’s still debatable. I can say I tried to X out all Red and yellow dyes from my daughters diet and it had little effect. This was before her OCD diagnosis, so if she was on the proper medicine for OCD things might have been different. We might have seen better changes in our daughter, so it’s hard to say what exactly was the benefit of eliminate dye, if there was any. It still remains a very strong topic for discussion.

shaynew121

I find this topic very interesting. I have personal experience with a family member eliminating red dye from their children's diet. I am not completely sure why they did it but I'm almost positive it had to do with growth and behavior. It's not that surprising links are being made between what we eat and behavioral and developmental problems. However does it only occur during development? Does it occur during pregnancy? And what about through our lives? Can we develop more issues as we grow and continue to consume these foods with these additives? I believe this is definitely an issue that will start to show up a lot more and more research will be done. If more implications and problems show up, this idea can really affect the food industry.

http://www.nytimes.com/2013/12/10/health/organic-milk-high-in-helpful-fatty-acids-study-finds.html

This article once again compares organic products to processed. However this article is a little different as it doesn't pick apart the processed food but shows all the positives of the organic. It explains how organic milk contains more fatty acids that help your heart. It talks about how organic milk has more omega 3's than omega 6's. However it doesn't really explain why this is. Do the companies do something to "conventional milk" to change this or is it sole associated with the organic cows' differences in diet. Whatever it may be, they still linked the organic milk to lowering cardiovascular problems. It makes you wonder how much extra benefits we are missing out on from fresh, natural food. Maybe certain diseases and problems could be fixed or suppressed by just these certain minerals and nutrients we are missing out on.

samantham121

I think this is so funny. Carrots used to be all different colors, including red and blue. They were bred to be orange to help bring more nationalism to the Netherlands. That is the carrot that we know of today.To see this makes me think how we alter produce make look the way we want it to, or what we think is more appealing. Organic food is bringing back the way food was originally supposed to look.

shaynew121

I agree that today we have a false idea of how a lot of food is suppose to look. Advertisements and the food industry have trie to make this perfect image of food. When actually all these foods shouldn't look the same and be perfect. Foods are being bleached and died just to satisfy consumers. Consumers think it is the right thing because that is what they are bombarded with. All these false images are the only thing they see. A lot of these additives have either shown negative effects on the human body or they have not figured out if they cause any problems. Still I believe that they should keep the food as it is when it comes out of the ground. We need to be less focused on how the food looks and be more focused on what it is doing or not doing for us.

http://mobile.nytimes.com/2013/06/15/opinion/the-epa-backs-off-on-factory-farms.html

I used this article as one of my sources in my source paper and I find it very surprising. They are acknowledging that the food industry is growing and water pollution is a problem, however they are admitting they can't handle the problem. The food industry has grown too much and has so much power, the E.P.A. can't control it. I also can't believe how they admit to wanting to keep the consumers in the dark. They don't want us to know what is going on because that could affect their business. Soon enough, whether told or not, consumers will find out. Once these factory farms yield even more implications for our water and land, consumers will start noticing more and more.

maddieklein121

This article is about how hunger truly is a problem in our own country, and the ideas one man has to end this in America. When we think of “hungry people” we mainly think of third-world countries where the homeless percentage is through the roof and their economy is unimaginable. But the truth is hunger goes on in our own country as well, which is one of the richest countries in the world. This is a serious issue and we tend to blow it off because we think that people are “too lazy” to provide for themselves and/or their families. But this is no where near true. People need help, and when we should try to help the people who are less fortunate than us.

shaynew121

This is why the topic of food is so great, it can spread through any idea. This leans towards politics and political ideas. I don't want to get into any politics but I believe the system is flawed slightly. I agree people are going hungry, not just in third world countries, but also in the United States. However, from personal experience, some people do take advantage of these programs. Once again it is the issue of what should the real solution be. How can we truly help the hungry, while saving as much money as possible. I do believe that food stamps should be a "short term" assistance program. It should just be for a short while under special circumstances, unemployment or pregnancy, to get the people back on their feet. Some people may argue they will never be able to get on their feet because food is too expensive. Well then the government needs to look into the food industry and attempt to change that.

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Shayne Wireman ENGL 121