Final Proposal

The purpose of this paper will focus on the issue of diabetes and related topics. Living in Northern Minnesota, where diabetes is a large and growing issue has made this topic something that interests me and seems to be something worth writing about. My god father has had diabetes and it has been something that I have been around since I have been young. This is another one of the reasons as to why I chose to write about and do research on this topic. Throughout the following paper I will discuss the basics of diabetes, the treatment options, current research that is being done, and mainly focus on how it affects the Native American population. I will talk about type one and type two diabetes. A family friend of mine, Jill Breyen, is a nutritionist that does a lot of work in Red Lake. Throughout this paper I will use the interview that I had with her, along with research that I have done on diabetes.This paper will be an informative piece of writing, and by the end I hope that you will have a good understanding of diabetes and the the other topics I have discussed.

Research Paper Ideas

As I said in my previous blog, I plan on doing my research paper on diabetes. This was something that I briefly hit during my TED talk, so I would be able to go into more detail and expand on this. I would look at the causes of it, different types, the current treatments, and the research that is being done to find new cures and treatments. Diabetes is a disease that is very prevalent around the area that we live in, so I could talk about those effects as well. I plan on doing my paper from a narrative along with an informative voice. Since I will be doing my paper on a topic that can be complicated and not many people know about, I will be sure to go into detail and also explain the smaller things. Some of the people that I have thought about interviewing were either one of my parents, Jill Breyen, Kristen Klinefelter, and Paul Craft. Both of my parents work in the health care field, and both have a background with it. Jill and Kristen are both close family friends of ours, and they are both dietitians. Jill works in Red Lake which has an extremely high rate of diabetes. She works with it and sees it every single day. Paul is my God Father. He has been affected by diabetes for many years now. He would be a person that I feel comfortable with talking about it and he would also be able to give me a lot of information.

Heart of Darkness Thesis

For my Heart of Darkness essay I plan on writing about how Africa was once an innocent and pure place until it was corrupted by the evil of the European man. The Europeans brought the evil to Africa. I plan on talking about why Conrad chose to use Africa as the setting of his book and how this may have helped portray this idea.
Some quotes I am looking at using are
"I've seen the devil of violence, and the devil of greed, and the devil of hot desire." (Conrad, 82) This quote to me seems to say that a person, not a place has brought the evil to Africa.This is why Conrad chose to use the devil in this part of the text. I could also look at how he use many cases of comparing Marlow or Kurtz to a Buddha or God.
"...for he judged it necessary to inform me he feared neither God nor devil, let alone any mere man." (Conrad, 98) Here, Conrad is portraying Kurtz as a God, and a figure that everyone should fear. This helps to portray him as holding a great deal of power.
 "...seemed to lead into the hear of an immense darkness." (Conrad, 164" As I interpreted this quote I feel as if Conrad is trying to say that imperialism has done its job and has left Africa as an 'immense darkness' just as it should. I think this quote would fit in nicely towards the end of my essay.
Any suggestions would be wonderful!

A topic that I am looking at doing for my research paper is the topic of diabetes. I somewhat looked at this for my TED talk, so I could go into more detail and expand on it. I would look at the causes of it, different types, the current treatments, and the research that is being done to find new cures and treatments. Diabetes is a disease that is very prevalent around the area that we live in, so I could talk about those effects as well.

Throughout the book Heart of Darkness, we see one group holding power over another looking through a postcolonial lens. The white men throughout the story remain dominant and powerful over the black men. The way that Conrad words the text and the way he uses imagery and symbolism helps portray these power roles. “I’ve seen the devil of violence, and the devil of greed, and the devil of hot desire; but, by all the stars! these were strong, lusty, red-eyed devils, that swayed and drove men- men, I tell you.” (Conrad, 82) In the previous quote, Conrad refers to the slaves as ‘the devil’. Along with this, he uses the color red as a symbol. Red is a color commonly associated with bad or evil. By using this color throughout the text it helps Conrad to portray the slaves as weak and savages. He uses the words ‘greed’ and ‘violence’ to describe them. These words make them seem like animals, hungry for anything they can get ahold of and ready to attack. As Conrad portrays the slaves as animals, it helps to show that the white men are superior and hold power. The white men own and treat the slaves as animals. The slaves are taught to fear the white men, hence why the slaves seem so violent. This portrayal of the slaves as aggressive animals helps the reader to see that the white men hold dominance throughout the story and that everyone should fear them.

Throughout the short stories Rufus at the Door, Winning Sarah Spooner, and Agatha McGee and the St.Isidore Seven, Jon Hassler uses symbolism to portrayed how the charters take on different traits to hold power. He uses this portrayal to show how characters may succeeded and fail. Throughout Rufus at the Door, Rufus's mother takes on the typical role of a female and fails. In Winning Sarah Spooner and Agatha McGee and the St.Isidore Seven both woman take on feminine traits along with Masculine traits to portray and hold power throughout the story.

RUFUS AT THE DOOR

    The short story Rufus at the Door clearly has social classes laid out. The people of the town are part of the middle class. The inmates of the insane asylum are portrayed as part of the lower class, even though they all came from family of middle class citizens. Focusing on the character of Rufus, the audience perceives him as part of the lower class because of his lower mental ability and his inability to take care of himself. Rufus is put into a social class solely on only these qualities. When the social classes are looked at based on emotion and happiness, the situation of story are reversed. Throughout the story the voice of the boy is always pointing out how Rufus is constantly smiling. “...his hands clasped behind him, his eyes directed at a point slightly above the passing people, his face locked in its customary grin.” (Hassler, 24) Throughout the quote above, Hassler uses imagery to help describe the scene he is picturing. He clearly explains an image of what Rufus looks like. Rufus is loved very much by his mother, he is happy, and he always has a grin on his face because of this sense of love. He has a sense of pure happiness that no one else in the town has. Looking at the social classes from a view of emotion, we can see that Rufus has risen above the rest of the town and become part of the upper class. As soon as Rufus’s mother passes away, we see Rufus fall back down in the social class, and once again become part of the lower class because his happiness from love no longer exists. The story helps show the power that society’s idea of upper, middle, and lower class has. 

        To revise this paper, I changed around some of the ways that I worded things in order to make it easier for the reader to understand. I also went back and analyzed more in depth on the quote I used. Overall, I did not change the main format and layout of this piece. I chose to use this piece of writing for my blog because out of all the stories we read, this one seemed to click the best. It kept me interested and didn't lose my attention. After the first page, I already had an idea of what I wanted to write about because the social classes were clearly laid out to me. I could tell that Rufus was going to be portrayed on the lower class from the start.

Throughout the duration of the film The Third Man, Holly Martins strives to become a masculine figure in which he would hold power. In the final scene of the movie, we see all of his work and effort come to an end and ultimately he fails. The power that Harry Lime and Anna Schmidt hold during the film, help contribute to this failure of Holly’s. During the final scene, we see Holly standing off to the side of the film, while Anna walks in a direct path towards that camera. Looking from a long shot, even though Anna is a minute part of the screen we still see her as larger and more powerful than Holly. The placement of Holly off to the far left of the screen helps the viewer to associate Holly as less important, as is he has been defeated and no longer plays a role in this moive. Another way that the directors help to portray Holly’s weakness and femininity is by having Harry Lime still hold power even after he is dead. In the last scene Anna walks straight part Harry without giving him a glance or second thought. Even though Harry is a dead man, and can no longer protect or provide for Anna, she still ends up choosing him over Holly. This defeat of not getting the girl, and having a dead man hold more power that he does really helps to demonstrate the weakness and little power that Holly holds. Along with the characters helping to portrays Holly’s weakness in the final scene, the directors also use the setting around Holly to help. The dirt road that Holly is standing along is lined with trees. The trees all look dry, dead, and hopeless. These trees are a symbol of Holly. At one point in time the trees were all probably alive and green, just as Holly was in the peak of the movie when he felt somewhat in control. Now that the trees are dead and have no more purpose, the viewer can associate Holly as also being dead to the movie. The last scene of the film The Third Man helps to show that all of the effort that Holly Martins put in throughout the film to gain power and break away from the characteristics of a female were ultimately pointless because in the end he fails and ends as a weak character.

Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs

As I watched Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs, one thing that stood out to me was how cinematic elements were used to help portray the image of the dwarfs. Although the dwarfs were small in size, throughout the movie they were portrayed as "large" and powerful. One cinematic element that was used were the camera angles. The cameras were angled up at the dwarfs, also called low angle shots. This angling of the camera help to make the dwarfs seems larger in size, therefore having the viewer perceive them as more powerful; the opposite of Snow White. Another cinematic element that was used throughout the movie was the zooming of the camera. Although the dwarfs were small and would not normally take up as much of the screen, the producer had the cameras zoomed in. This zooming technic created a false image that the dwarfs were much larger than they seemed. This helps to portray them as holding more power than if the cameras were not zoomed. A third cinematic element that Disney used throughout Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs were the shadows of the dwarfs. The shadows also tie into the camera angles. In the scene where the dwarfs are marching and singing on their way home from work, as they pass through the cavern their shadows are cast onto the wall behind them more than twice their size. As the shadows are casts, this makes the dwarfs seem larger than they are in reality. All of these cinematic elements that are used throughout the movie help the producer to share his image of the dwarfs with the viewers. Although the dwarfs were small, they were still portrayed as large in the movie. Holding more power than Snow White ever did during the film. The dwarfs played a masculine a masculine roles during the movie, and the cinematic elements helped to do this.

One of the TED talks that we have seen presented so far that really caught my attention was Hanna’s TED talk on being an older sister. For starters, Hanna did an outstanding job on the way she delivered her topic. There was never a stutter or “um” throughout her speech and the entire thing flowed together perfectly. It had a clearly laid out and organized outline that was easy to follow and understand as she went along with things. The power-point that Hanna used as a visual aid worked very nicely with her talk in a way that we could all see the pictures of her siblings as she went through her presentation. Overall, I think that Hanna had a nicely done TED talk and I can’t suggest much that she could have improved on. 

The reason that Hanna’s TED talk on being an older sister stood out to me was because I myself am an older sister as well. As she went through her talk and explained the qualities that she thought an older sibling should posses, it made me think about the older sibling that I have been. I could easily relate to each scenario she describe, weather I had handled each one differently or the same as she did. Hanna’s talk was easy for me to relate to, and drew in my attention nicely. :)

I'm all ready for tomorrow people.

Thesis/Goal: I want to talk about the positive and negative ways that children's health and nutrition are being affected through society and the education system. My goal of my TED talk would be to inform my listeners about the growing health/obesity problems and ways they could be resolved/improved.


During my TED talk, I plan on using a lot of definition. I would define the terms that some of the audience my not be knowledgeable of. I want to talk about amounts of Physical activity that children are getting during the school day, and how the amount needs to be increased. Going off of the ways that the school and government are affecting children’s health, I would also bring up school lunches. I also want also use cause and effect along with narrative. I will also use some sort of persuasive voice to try and convince my audience about the downhill slide the health of America is taking.
Another thing I would bring up is the negative image the media and society is placing in young girls minds about how they should look, and the effects of this. (Ex. Eating disorders/ young dieting) I will then talk about how hard dieting really is, and how everyone’s body is different; bringing in a TED talk I have watched. Bringing in dieting I want to talk about the different fad diets and talk about those may be affecting how we eat. I want to examine a couple in detail and the different theories each food/diet has had over the years.


In conclusion I want to talk about the happy medium that needs to be found for America’s society today, between being healthy, exercising, eating right, and being knowledgeable verses starving yourself to have the “perfect” body portrayed by the media.


*I know this is quite unorganized and rough at the moment, so any suggestions and ideas would be a great help! Especially on perfecting my thesis statement.

Letter from Birmingham Jail journal analysis

As I was reading Letter from Birmingham Jail, one of the things that really stood out to me was Martin Luther King Jr. sense of compassion, understanding, and being able to look at things in a positive way. "But since I feel that you are men of genuine good will and that your criticisms are sincerely set forth, I want to try to answer your statement in what I hope will be patient and reasonable terms." (MLKJ, 588) Throughout the quote above, King shows a great sense of patients. The clergymen in whom he is writing the letter to have had him put into jail. They have done nothing to help King in his journey to gain civil rights for all African Americans. But yet, he still treats them with a mature attitude. He does not lash out or use hateful words. King simply states that he is going to try and answer to the clergymen in the most reasonable way possible. King also has a way of looking at life as the glass half full, in a positive way. All of the set backs that King faced he looked at as an opportunity. He used the setbacks to give himself more determination to reach the dreams that he had envisioned. He used these setbacks to make his dreams into reality. I think that King’s sense of compassion, understanding, and being able to look at things in a positive way is what made him one of the most influential and great people that America has known. We as people can learn from these qualities that he possessed, to in turn make not only our own lives better, but also the people’s around us.

Analysis on Ariel's Journal

Ariel chose to do a journal on the Ted talk we watched on Mike Rowe. She chose too analyze the quote "If I'm wrong so often." Her analysis included her thoughts on that even though things seem to be straightforward in right/wrong ways that may not be. I am choosing to talk about this quote as well because I think it relates well to people's lives today. Often we as Americans are so quick to judge. We see something, and don’t think twice before coming to a quick assumption or conclusion. For instance, walking past a homeless person on the street. Immediately one may assume that the person doesn’t work or that they are a lazy person in general. We wouldn’t consider thinking about the fact that the person may have worked hard their entire life and recently lost everything in a fire and was diagnosed with cancer. We are wired to overestimate disposition and underestimate the situation. Throughout the Ted talk, Mike presented on situations that he has experienced. In the course of his job he encounters many situations with people who have jobs that the typical American would consider horrible. He goes on to talk about how these people are some of the happiest people he has met, and how they are completely content with their job even though someone else may not be. The point that I feel the quote from this TED talk is trying to point out is that we as American’s need to stop and take time to think about the situations that others are in. We need to be able to take a step back and realize that we may have initially been wrong and reevaluate our opinions.

TED Talk ideas

The following are some ideas that I have for my TED talk.

1. Nutrition: Suing McDonald's etc. due to health issues; New York soda ban.

-This interests me due to the fact that obesity becoming an epidemic in America., and i think that we ourselves are to blame.

2. Making it mandatory for schools to require more physical exercise in the school day.

-Again this ties into the idea that I have above about obesity

-The brain brain is shown to function better and be more active after activity, which would increase learning.

- Youth Fitness Presidential Fitness has gone down 90 seconds in the last 30 years

3. Smoking in a home with children should be outlawed.

-Lung issues and second hand smoke

-Children not having a choice in something that can impact their future lives greatly.

-Cancer rates on the rise

-Federal spending going towards Anti-smoking campaigns

4.Recycling

-This topic interests me because as a society we are consuming and using more products and resources.Therefore creating more waste. In  turn, recycling is an issue we need to bring to the surface and as Americans start doing.

5.Stem cells research.

-I hope to pursue a medical career, so advancements in the medical field is something that interests me

-Allowing advancements in technology that we otherwise may not get.

-Providing cures to untreatable diseases and health issues.

-It could be the future of medicine.

Fallacies from "The Wife-Beater"

"A web search shows that kids nation wide are wearing the skinny-ribbed white T-shirts..."


In this quote from that text, Smith is using the Red Herring fallacy. The fact that children around the nation may happen to be wearing wife-beaters has noting to do with the issue being argued in the text; abuse. She is trying to draw the readers attention away from the text by claiming that since kids are wearing the shirt, they too will become abusive and contribute to the problem.


"More that 4 million women are victims of severe assaults by boyfriends and husbands each year."


In this quote, the fallacy It Does Not Follow or Non Sequitur is used. When Smith states this fact at the end of the text, she has not proceeded it with any other evidence about assault. Smith only comments on the facts about the name of the wife-beater shirt. The quote above does not have any meaning or position when stated after that, therefore making it irrelevant and a Non Sequitur.


"In the article, some sources argued that the reference in the term was not to spousal abuse per se but to popular-culture figures such as Ralph Cramden and Tony Soprano. And what about Archie Bunker?"


The fallacy that is being used in the above quote is Appeal to Doubtful Authority. Smith is using this fallacy to try and strengthen her argument about assault by bringing in famous figures. No facts about the men in the quote above were ever stated about them being abusive. Therefor, they have no appeal to Smith's argument.