The Power Team

 "The Power Team: Muscular Christianity and the Spectacle of Conversation" by Sharon Mazer was a story of how these power teams work at getting new audiences in different parts of the country. They use the spectacle of their muscles to put on great shows of pure muscle by smashing bricks with their heads and breaking out of handcuffs with nothing but their muscles. They even share their own fears and feelings to create the illusion that they are "real" men that can overcome anything with the power of Jesus Christ, and only "real" men have the strength to accept him. The team will also use the art of conversation to capture the audiences attention to what they are saying about the Gospel. They even go as far as pulling their own children up on stage to appeal to the audience more to get more donations from them.

  To me this whole reading seemed to expose a scam that used theatrics and the word of God to fulfill their own greedy needs. They appealed to peoples interests of a good show. It seemed like a travelling circus to me that's just interested in showing off their amazing strength and speech just to make a quick buck from innocent people. I really don't think that these power teams are interested in just spreading the good word to people that are willing to take the time to listen to them. I mean, they were even selling souvenirs in the lobbies  outside of the arenas that they were working at.

Reaction to Sedaris: "a plague of tics"

            “a plague of tics” by David Sedaris is a very interesting and personal story that looks into the life of someone with OCD. Because this is a true story about the author, it makes you feel more connected to the character being described; he is writing about himself, so it is easy for him to develop the character. While reading the story, you find out that his mother seems completely ignorant to his problem and compensates my drinking and smoking. And, because his family never got any medical or psychological help for their son, he was constantly faced with issues at school; his teachers always had to deal with his problems and his acting out as well as the teasing he received from his peers. I thought it was interesting, though, that he seemed to know that what he was doing wasn’t right, but he also knew or thought that he had to do it. “It wasn’t that I enjoyed pressing my nose against the scalding hood of a parked car-pleasure had nothing to do with it. A person had to do these things because nothing was worse than the anguish of not doing them,” (Sedaris, pg 9). By the end of this interesting story of the author, we find out that he takes up smoking to compensate for his “problem”. “Were I not smoking, I’d probably be on some sort of medication that would cost the same amount of money but deny me the accoutrements: the lighters I can thoughtlessly open and close, the ashtrays that provide me with a legitimate reason to leave my chair, and the cigarettes that calm me down while giving me something to do with my hands and mouth,” (Sedaris, pg 21).

Introduction to Research Paper: Childhood Obesity

1. the specific question you propose to answer for your final research paper

~What are the causes and consequences of childhood obesity and how can it be either prevented, or solved.

2. your working thesis statement

~Childhood obesity is a major cause of disease and health risks, including death, in America and we need to work together to solve this epidemic.

3. an overview of what you currently know about the issue

~Childhood obesity is now considered an epidemic in the United States. It is effecting many children in the population, causing things such as high blood pressure, diabetes and death. And, this issue that is causing so many problems, is preventable. There are currently some cities and towns that are working to create initiatives to encourage children to go outside and play, instead of sitting in front of the TV or computer. I think that this effort should be rewarded and needs to become a more common and continental initiative. Also, there is a huge problem with these overweight and obese children getting bullied and picked on in school. This just causes the children’s self-esteem to be lowered and could possible cause thoughts, or attempts, of suicide. Obese children shouldn’t be rewarded for being overweight, but the need to be encouraged to lose weight, but this has to be done in a subtle manor; telling someone they need to lose weight isn’t going to help. The key is to almost trick the children into losing weight, by encouraging them to join sports or maybe as a parent, or older sibling, inviting them to play outside with you or go for a walk, for example. And, he children don’t need to go to expensive gyms or see nutritionists, as long as they increase their activity and eat healthier foods. Every little bit helps and parents’ need to learn to be good role models for their children to increase the success rate of obese children losing weight.

4. an overview of what you need to find out about the issue

~I would like to find current statistics on the issue, including the percentage of children that are overweight/obese, the percentage of these children that have high blood pressure, diabetes, etc., the life expectancy of overweight/obese children and the percentage of deaths that are related to childhood obesity. Also, I would like to find out some, if any, of the initiatives that are happening in this area to encourage children to get out and play, lose weight, or eat healthier.

5. a list of arguments which oppose the one you plan to make

~Childhood obesity really isn’t that big of a problem/ There aren’t that many obese children in America.

~We shouldn’t have to worry about childhood obesity, because it isn’t affecting us/our children.

~We shouldn’t have to help prevent/solve this problem, because it isn’t us/our children that are obese.

6. a list of sources you have looked at on the topic at this point

Paoletti, J. (2007). Tipping the scales: What nurses need to know about the childhood

obesity epidemic. RN, 70(11).

Salbe, A.D., Weyer, C., Lindsay, R.S., Ravussin, E., & Tataranni, P. (2002). Assessing

risk factors for obesity between childhood and adolescence: I. birth weight,

childhood adiposity, parental obesity, insulin, and leptin. Pediatrics, 110(2), 299.

Varga, C. (2007). Childhood obesity and inactivity at an alarming high. Chart, 104(2), 9.

Whitney, E. & Rolfes, S.R. (2011). Understanding nutrition. Belmont, CA: Wadsworth.

Jarvis, C. (2008). Physical examination & health assessment. Toronto, Canada: Saunders

Elsevier.

NBC Action News (2011, February 17). Steps to fight childhood obesity in KC. [video

file]. Retrieved from www.youtube.com/watch?v=u_2qevYAXA.

CBS News (2009, April 7). Childhood obesity epidemic. [video file]. Retrieved from

www.cbsnews.com/video/watch/?id=24962n.

Blog Post #5: Plagiarism

This blog post is in response to an article that was written by Trip Gabriel, "Plagiarism Lines Blur for Students in Digital Age". It talks about how students find it easier to copy and paste research papers, instead of taking the time to actually put together a research paper and cite their sources. Excuses have been used that 'there was no author' or 'it's common knowledge', when really, the students are either just lazy or don't know how to appropriately manage their time, leaving them cramming all night, aka copy and pasting, their research paper, that they probably had at least a month to write. 

Another problem is that students don't seem to think that plagiarism is a big deal. Obviously, if they thought that there were consequences, then they wouldn't do it. And, if plagiarism isn't strongly enforced, or if the students don't think it is strongly enforced, they why should they spend a lot of time writing a paper and citing all their sources, when they can just copy and paste a paper in a manner of minutes? 

Plagiarism is a major problem, and until students realized how big of a problem it is, and the consequences of it, then plagiarism is just going to keep continuing. 

Blog Post #4: Introduction to Research Topic

When I was choosing a topic to write about, I was trying to keep my major in mind: nursing. Also, I would like to specialize in pediatrics. So, I wanted to write about a topic that pertained to pediatrics and nursing and/or health. This led me to think about health problems that are currently a problem with the pediatric population and this lead me to childhood obesity.

            Childhood obesity is caused by many things, such as an increase of inactivity of children and an increase in the quick, cheap, easily attainable fast food and junk food that the children are eating. This decrease in exercise and increase in calories is an equations for increased weight and increased health problems.

            The inactivity is provoked by the children sitting at the computer and in front on the television, either playing video games or simply watching TV. And, now a days, with most families having both parents working, picking up fast food for dinner, or ordering in a pizza, is more convenient that having to make a healthy, well-balanced dinner.

            The complications of childhood obesity, are the same as obesity in general; diabetes, heart disease, high blood pressure, and possibly even stroke. Consuming high fat diets and not exercising, cause plaque to build up in the arteries, which can cause high blood pressure and possibly heart attack or stroke. But unlike general obesity, with childhood obesity, these problems are occurring much earlier in their life and decreasing the lifespan on the young generation.  

Annotated Bibliography

Blog Post #3: Annotated Bibliography:

http://www.ahrq.gov/research/dec10/1210RA17.htm

Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (2010). Risk factors for cognitive decline still murky.
     Research Activities 362, 12.

     This article is the main points and summary of an original article that was in Annals of Internal   Medicine by the NIH Conference. It talks about how many tests and much research has been done testing many risk factors for cognitive decline, and there has not been any significant correlation between any of the risk factors tested. Also, there was testing done on possible interventions to improve or slow the progression of cognitive decline, with the same results as the testing of the risk factors. I feel that this article is very well written and gets to the point quickly, which means that you can get the important information out of the article promptly. Finally, this would be a good article if you are doing or contemplating the idea of doing an article on the risk factors of cognitive decline; by reading this article, you would find out quickly that there has already been a lot of research on this topic and there isn't a correlation between any risk factors and cognitive decline.
    

Blog Post #2: Response to "Attached to Technology and Paying a Price"

So...not only do I now have a blog, but this is now my second post. Here we go again...

Response to "Attached to Technology and Paying a Price":


http://www.nytimes.com/2010/06/07/technology/07brain.html?_r=1

Above is the link to an article that was in The New York Times titled "Attached to Technology and Paying a Price". It is written by Matt Richtel and is a true story about a family that is completely taken over by technology. Quoted from the article,

"That is the tweet that appears on the left-most of Mr. Campbell's array of monitors, which he has expanded to three screens, at times adding a laptop and an iPad. On the left screen, Mr. Campbell follows the tweets of 1,100 people, along with instant messages and group chats. The middle monitor displays a dark field filled with computer code, along with Skype, a service that allows Mr. Campbell to talk to his colleagues, sometimes using video. The monitor on the right keeps e-mail, a calendar, a Web browser and a music player."


Is this really what the world is coming to? Completely obsessed and controlled by technology? Don't get me wrong, I think that having the internet and cell phones is very convenient and a nice luxury to have, and I do have a Facebook, but I would hate to see what would happen if I ended up like Mr. Campbell in the article. I don't think that I could ever multi-task that much and wouldn't want to. It's nice to know that I am not the know of person that has to sit in front of the computer 24/7. I mean, what kind of life would that be? If you are focused on nothing but that screen, or even screens, in front of you, how can you enjoy the life you have? You would never have time to enjoy your family, or do things, like going on vacation and actually relaxing. Is that how you would want to live? I know I don't.

Soon, you would be watching, or more likely standing by while your children and even their children are growing up. Do you want to be apart of those experiences, or simply wake up one day and wonder where your life has gone? Life is too short and too precious to spend it totally engulfed in technology and not actually living it.