My Reflection Blog

My Reflection Blog

Looking back to this past semester in English 105, I feel that I have learned many useful tasks I can implement into my everyday life. I really enjoyed all assignments, especially creating my index page. I also really enjoyed researching, and putting all the information together for my podcast, slideshow, and my web text. I felt that the class challenged me to think about my topic, and ask vital questions necessary for a well written project. For example, “ How is High Fructose Corn Syrup and obesity connected?” Why is it important for the public to know about how to read food labels?” “ How can the public educate themselves to help fight obesity for themselves and their families?” These were some of the major questions I based my research around, and little by little, it became a 2200 word factual, informational web text which I feel everyone can benefit from.
There were many challenges for me, and at times I became frustrated, I felt that I had to figure many things out for myself such as putting my slideshow together. It took me 8 hours, but ultimately, it felt great when I understood how to do it, and the outcome I produced. Another difficult task I still could not figure out was to site the pictures in the web text using tables. I will still continue to try to figure it out; I know I will eventually get it. I had trouble pasting my pubic html folder to the H drive, but with many questions asked to Josh and Prof. Mitol, I finally understand it. The podcast was not as difficult, and I enjoyed doing the recording, I never did anything like that before.
Other parts of the class I enjoyed included class discussions on formatting our web text, recommended articles for reading, and face book discussions that everyone from class participated in. I liked working in different groups, and engaging in conversations with other students. I liked working on our cover page of the class presentation, I felt that we all worked really well together, and our page looks great. I very much enjoyed looking on the class website, www.mabrito.net/csw to see if anything was due for a particular week, and all the useful information that was posted on it. For example, I followed the pyramid format, and printed all the additional information out to help stay in a certain guideline. Printouts especially help me, I am a visual person. I also thought the peer reviews from Prof. Mitol and my fellow classmate was very helpful in completing mistakes or other suggestions on improving my web text. I think that a reader’s perspective is key to helping the author understand how the article is perceived. I used many suggestions both from my classmate and Prof. Mitol.
I really liked the outcome of my web text and how it presents itself. I think the coloring, the word format, the placement of pictures, and the useful information helped make this web text a success. I put in a lot of thought on all aspects of the project. I made sure that I had accuracy resources, and tried my best to place the information in the proper text. Most of all, I am very proud of my slideshow. I think the pictures flow very well with the script, and the overall message was important to everyone watching the slideshow.
Things I would have done differently would be not giving up on figuring out how to put the pictures in the tables. Also I think that the actual format could have been a little different, for example, the color of the background, and some of the pictures used in the web text.

I did not post this paragraph to my index page because I am a little embarrased to say that I am not that great with computer's. I feel that it takes me a couple times to learn a new task, so it really means a great deal to me that the teachers made me feel comfortable and were very patient with me. Sometimes in the past with other classes, I felt out of place asking questions about simple tasks pertaining to anything about the computer. I think that it is of great importance that teachers realize that everyone has different learning ablilities.
I think Josh as a teacher’s aid really helped many students, including myself. I can not imagine if Prof. Mitol did not have the help of someone. The only downside was that I was unable to come on Fridays when he was here to help with any questions students had pertaining to our project. Overall, both Josh and Prof. Mitol were very patient and understanding in regards to questions asked by the students. I definitely would recommend this class to another student, and if I could, I would take this course again. I think that Prof. Mitol and Josh made a really great team!

Next Subject for my Webtext

My next subject will focus the biological and science factor of being overweight. I want to focus on the effects the brian has over our bodies when craving High Fructose Corn Syrup. I also want to mentions 2 studies have been done recently in correlation to HFCS and the brain, and body. One in particular states that there is a certain part of the human brain that craves HFCS, and also I would like to talk about how once you get a certain number of fat cells they can shrink, yet never truely go away.

Time (2007). The Science of Appetite. Retrieved from http://www.time.com/time/specials/2007/article/0,28804,1626795_1627112_1626670,00.html

New York Times (2010). In Obesity Epidemic, What's One Cookie? Retrieved from http://well.blogs.nytimes.com/2010/03/01/in-obesity-epidemic-whats-one-cookie/

outline for my slideshow

The outline for my slideshow will be on the health concerns of High Fructose Corn Syrup on the body (vital organs) when ingested. My introduction will explain why it is important to know how the body breaks HFCS down and the effects it has on various vital organs in the body.

The introduction will then lead into the body of the slideshow which will consist of pictures of organs and the effects of HFCS, and pictures of the organs next to the text. I will give 2 resources with in my text for the audience to visit to find out more health concerns pertaining to HFCS and the effects it has on our bodies.

I will also include a couple pictures that will capture the audience's attention in reference to HFCS, not all just organ pictures. I want to show ultimately what could be the end result if too much HFCS is consumed, and I want to include some personal pictures of people, and maybe a picture of fat stored in the body over a period of time.

I will conclude my slideshow by stating that I hope that the information provided from my slideshow will make them more cautious and alert when consuming various food and drink products. I hope that it will make them more aware of HFCS, and to be more alert when ingesting various products. I will end my slideshow by giving a useful website to visit for more information pertaining to my slideshow.

Podcast Topic

For my podcast topic I would like to discuss preventative measures on cutting out high fructose corn syrup. For example, I would like to talk about the most popular brands of sugar substitutes, organic sugar, for example, sugar in the raw, and how to read food labels properly. I think that if the audience knows where to find the sugar label on the food and beverage boxes and knows what to look for it can prevent over consumsuption of high fructose corn sryup. I want to find out a reliable source and give the audience information on how much is the daily recommendation on high fructose corn syrup consumption, and if it is soley based on body weight and height. I also plan on suggesting the website http://www.nhlbisupport.com/bmi/ ( national heart and blood institute) where the audience can go to find out thier Body Mass Index, and how many calories they should be consuming. It also has links on an aim for a healthy weight, limitation of the BMI, controlling your weight, and receipes. Suggesting different types of physical activity to maintain a healthy weight (sourcing from shape.com). I also want to give the website http://www.letsmove.org/ where everyone can go to see the latest on the campain against U.S. obesity and other helpful preventative tips.

scholarly resources

E.A. Finklestien and L.Zuckerman (2008).The Fattening of America: How the Economy Makes Us Fat, If It Matters, and What To Do About It. Wiley and Sons .

Finkelstein, D., Hill, E., Whitaker, R.C. (2009). School Food Environments and Policies in U.S. Public Schools. Mathematica Policy Research.

Outline: Factors Contributing to U.S. Obesity Rate

I.) Finding out key factors that are contributing to the U.S. Obesity Rate.
A. Key Points
1. The correlation between high fructose corn syrup and obesity.
2. Relationship between the government and the corn refinery companies.
3. Vending machine companies funding public schools to keep their product
accessible to children.

B. Body of Paper
1. Information on High Fructose Corn Syrup and your Health.
a. Provide Web and Newspaper articles supporting the health risks of high fructose
corn syrup. Give some more factual information on what it is (definition), how it
is broken down in the body, the cost of producing it rather a healthier alternative,
and how many food and beverage companies use it in their products.
b. Include a recent study done by the University of California that showed people
that ingested moderate to high amounts of high fructose corn syrup compared to
glucose syrup had a higher percentage of body fat.
c. Provide a chart on what a healthy weight should be compared to your B.M.I.
d. Show a graph of how the current U.S. Obesity rate is compared to other
countries.
2. Some reliable resources such as newspaper articles stating how much the
U.S. Government funds the corn refinery companies.
a. Retrieve statistical information that supports the use of glucose syrup is a little
more expensive, yet a healthier alternative to High Fructose Corn Syrup.
3. Newspaper or Web Articles that support Vending machine companies funding the
pubic school systems in order to keep their products available to children.
a. Statistics from a newspaper article from U.S.A. Today that shows how much
kids consume unhealthy food and beverage that they buy from their schools.
C. Conclusion
1. Taxes on High Fructose Corn Syrup; Newspaper articles supporting latest on laws
being proposed to the U.S. Government.
2. Grants from the Government that would support public school systems that decide
to become pro healthy in the food and beverage department.
3. Website that the audience can visit www.letsmove.org that would give more
information on how to live a healthier lifestyle.
4. What the average consumer can do to become pro active when purchasing foods
and beverages. I will do my podcast on how to read average food boxes to detect
if it contains high fructose corn syrup.
5. Conclusion paragraph, final thoughts on my topic.
D. References in APA Format

Two websites in support of my research

Instead of researching the general topic of obesity, I will look further into researching on two major contributions of high obesity rates in the U.S. I would like the title of my project to be "Some Hidden Causes Aiding in the U.S. Obesity Rate." First, I will explore how high fructose corn syrup is correlated to obese people, the relationship between the corn industry and the U.S. government, and how money plays a big part in this whole process. I found an article on the web, " High Fructose Corn Syrup Proven to Cause Human Obesity," from the website titled www.alternet.org, that reports on how much high fructose corn syrup each person consumes per year, how the corn refiner industry has been spending plenty of money trying to hide the negative publicity, and researchers from the University of California startling discovery on the what high fructose corn syrup does to the body once ingested consistently and other health risks pertaining to. I think that this website is useful because it goes into detail on the politics between the government and the corn syrup companies trying to sustain a profit. It shows that both are more concerned with money instead of the healthiness of our U.S. population. I also will explore the relationship between vending machine companies paying to keep their product in U.S. public schools. I came across a article from www.usatoday.com/news/health/2004-05-11vending-machines_x.htm that gives startling information on two recent surveys done. It indicates the majority of vending machines in public schools are filled with junk food, and that kids have admitted to eating "a great deal" or some kind of junk food in an average week. I think that this article gives a factual outlook on what kids are eating and drinking, the relationship between the school boards and the vending machine companies, and the article also gives hope for the future on perhaps recent bills that are in effect that will give grants to public schools if they were to distribute healthier food and beverage choices for their students. I hope to build on this project with more websites, articles, surveys,and other factual information.

Three Research Topics

The three research topics I would like to research would be obesity, if depression is higher with men or women, and what makes people happy. I spoke about my reasons on obesity in my recent blog, many personal aspects contribute to my decision to research this topic. My curiousity on depression and if it is higher in men and women is somewhat because I just want to know. I do occasionally suffer from seasonal depression, and I wonder if men suffer as much from depression as women. I am curious to know in today's society on what makes people happy. It seems it would be such an interesting topic to study.

Topic of Research

I have decided to research the topic " what reasons contribute to our country's high obesity rate and some possible solutions to this problem." I want to research various factors such as fast food, lack of exercise programs in our schools, technology, urban\suburban areas, careers, changes in the seasons,geographic areas,and different cultures with in our society. I also would like to find some solutions to help people to find a way to become more active, groups they can join to help with being overweight, and different guides on learning how to eat right. I take interest because I have struggled with being overweight all my adult life. I was very active when I was in school, up until I was about 23 years old, I started to gain weight. Out of convenience (and laziness), I fell into the fast food routine. Once I stopped, it has been so hard to get the weight off. I have joined a gym, I try to eat well ( much better compared to what I used to eat), and I try to watch my caloric intake. It seems that when summertime arrives, I am more motivated to part take in outdoor activities. In the winter time, I loose my motivation. My career at the time was a huge reason for me gaining 40 pounds. I was working 50 hours a week, on the computer a lot, and not enough time to work out. With in a year, I have lost 40 pounds, yet I have a long way to go. I am still considered 40 pounds overweight for my height and body type. I noticed when I quit my job and started working part time, I was able to get to the gym more often. I know so many people in today's society are going through what I went through. Maybe finding the problems of why our society struggles with obesity, I can offer solutions.

Response to Programming is the new literacy

This article was very interesting to me. I feel the article states a great point, not only children, but adults including Gen X, Y, and baby boomers will have to continue to keep up with technology, or get left behind. I also agree that programming language is more than just letters and numbers in certain codes. I do, however, foresee my daughter, who is 3 years old, learning and comprehending computer knowledge ( and the rest of her class too) at a faster rate than I did as a child. She goes to Kids First Academy in Highland In., which is more of a developmental school rather than a day care. They focus on teaching toddlers and young children the fundamentals of technology and pre K subjects ( which I think is such a great idea considering how fast children learn). Her teachers have also introduced Spanish in their classroom curriculum. Last week, my daughter said something in Spanish and I had no idea what she was saying! It makes me very proud, needless to say, it also inspired me to take a Spanish course next semester. I do believe that knowing another major language besides English is going to be so important for our future generations.
I do not agree that the only way a person can be literate is to have knowledge of computer programming. I think one can keep up with the latest multimedia tools and techniques and not have to know how to re- program their computer or other computer based tools. I believe that when they make computer programming more simplified perhaps more people will want to take courses about it. I do not agree with the part of the article that says in the future businesses will just hire young, computer savvy individuals. That is a form of discrimination. If the case that technology is becoming more advanced for their employees, I think it is up to the business to form specialized workshops to and teach the employees the necessary tools to perform their jobs. The article makes the older generation sound so "out with the old, in with the new...". I think that at any age, people can learn. I believe their also needs to be a balance between educational curriculm such as reading,writing, and technology. The future generation can't just rely on re-programing knowledge and not have correct grammer or language. Bottom line, I think that you can still teach an old dog new tricks.

Response to Gen Y is Taking Over the Web

I just read this article and have to say I agree that Generation Y work ethics and habits will be much different from those of Generation X, or Baby boomers, especially when working with web related jobs. I recently was a manager over 7 people for a make up counter. They all fit the age group for the Generation Y except for myself. I feel that I am more of the Generation X ( I am 32 years old). I am computer savvy, however, I prefer to read a book ( not on the computer) or spend my time doing outdoor activities ( running, walking, and camping). I like to give 110% in my work, and take much pride in my professional career. I noticed that the younger group that belongs to the Generation Y have different things that are important to them. For instance, my assistant manager, who was 22 years old, was always planning her social activities for her days off. On her lunch brakes, rather than call a person to say "hi", she would text that person the whole time. I,myself, would rather call someone and leave a voice message, or talk to them in person. She also did not take her job too seriously, she was there for the pay check, that's it. I tried to motivate her to take pride in her career, yet she viewed it as just a job. When I read this article, it fit her profile exactly. Generation Y, I have noticed, are usually technologically savvy. With that, will come accommodations for their needs. Web movies, T.V. shows, and other media related to the web will be easily accessible. I do check my e-mail, face book, and surf the net, yet I would rather watch a movie or T.V. show on the television. I remember most of my employees having advanced computer skills. For example, I asked one of my team members to help set up a my space page to help generate business for our counter. He finished it with in days and it looked like a professional graphic designer did it! I know if I tried to do what he did, it would have taken me weeks. I was truly impressed of his work. Also, I found rewarding my employees with an unpaid day off to be very effective when I had certain contests for the highest seller. Instead of extra gratis, or a free lunch, they would rather spend time away from work, usually with their friends.
Needless to say, we all have to accommodate one another in the future. The younger generation will have to realize older generations have needs too. I'm sure we all want a easy, accessible way to find information on the Internet, regardless if you are part of Generation X,Y, or a baby boomer.

Yeah!! I am a blogger...

I am happy that I have successfully created a blogger account!