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.