Considering Genre

For this blog entry, I will explain what genre I am going to use to best inform others of my postmortem controversy on vaccinations in California with the SB 277 bill.  Since it is the first project, I am absolutely terrified on how it will all go down, but I am confident that I know my story well enough to present it in an appropriate way.

AttaneaGoddess. "WWRI Someecard Issue 2-409 Stress". 10/31/13 via Deviant Art.
Creative Commons Non-commercial Generic License.

1. What genre am I going to commit to for Project 1? Why?
     I am going to do the Quick Reference Guide as my first genre for Project 1 because I am not the most confident writer, and since the first project is worth the least amount of points, I would like my bad writing to not affect my grade as much as it would later on in the semester.  I also picked a Quick Reference Guide as my genre for this project because I feel that the best way to explain the details of this controversy is through writing them.  With exact facts and statistics, I think that it is easiest to read rather than to hear them when trying to comprehend the significance of those facts and details.  The information is also pretty intriguing, at least in my opinion, so reading about this specific controversy really won't be a bore.

2. What genre conventions from my chosen genre am I planning on developing during next week's Production phase? What do I plan to do with the genre conventions that will help me accomplish the purpose of the project most effectively?
     I plan to outline the QRG by having an intriguing title, as well as an introduction paragraph that will keep the reader interested to want to finish reading the rest of the document.  I am also going to need to correctly use the different links that I have found with reliable information so that the reader has a way to learn more about a specific topic that is brought up in the story but won't be discussed because of relevance. By having a title, introduction paragraph and proper links, I think that writing the Quick Reference Guide won't be as bad as I originally thought it would be.  Research and organization for this document is what will either make or break my project since the purpose of the postmortem controversy is to inform without bias or opinion.

3. How am I feeling about Project 1 going in to the Production phase? What challenges do I anticipate next week as I create content for the project?
     I am definitely not as extremely overwhelmed as I was at the beginning of the Pre-production phase when I thought my head was going to explode.  However, even though I have a solid amount of sources to find credible information, and I know the ins and outs of the story well, the actual putting together of the Quick Reference Guide will still be challenging.  Planning has never been my forte, so it will definitely take a lot of patience out of me and dedication to making sure that everything is organized well before starting the first draft.  Time will really be the only big issue next week in the Production phase since I have three exams Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday in other classes.  Other than that stress, I am feeling pretty confident about my production phase plan and my first few drafts of the QRG.

SIDE NOTE: This is how I felt about a week ago about everything that I had to do for this project.  This is how I feel now.

Cluster of Stakeholders

In this blog post, I created a diagram of sorts through the website "coggle", to really make sure that I understand the characters and their positions in this controversy.  In the diagram, it will describe the relationship they have to the controversy, as well as what they gain or lose from it, and how their judgement might be clouded because of a bias towards something.  There are four main characters that are really affected in this issue: the children, parents, politicians (both in favor of the bill and in opposition of it), and the doctors administering the vaccinations.


This picture isn't of my cluster map but I think it looks super cool and fun (not as cool and fun as mine though).

Zimmerman, Jean-Louis.  "keys-to-smart-goal-setting-mind-map". 11/19/08 via Flicker.
Creative Commons Generic License.   

Evaluation of General Sources

     In this blog entry, I will be discussing the two of the many different sources I have found that are about my postmortem controversy: The controversy over vaccinations in California and the SB277 bill that was passed.

The first source that I am going to evaluate is an article from Stanford University's online news page.
"California's vaccination law serves a national model for children's health, Stanford scholars say"

Michael, Ann Marie. "Kate, 8 years old, at the No on SB277 rally yesterday.  Her sign 

says "Every child has the right to education- California Consitution/ Oppose SB277".  

04/16/15 via Flicker. Creative Commons Generic License.  

• URL

The URL for this news source is .edu.  This means that the website is a top level domain for education.  Since Stanford is a prestigious 4-year university, the source appears to be credible.  Not only does the URL support that claim, but knowing the background of the university, the website and the article are trustworthy and not biased, just knowledgeable on the facts.  

• Author

The main author for this article is Clifton B. Parker, however he collaborated with two other Stanford law and medical professors, Michelle Mello and David Studdert.  Not only do all three of these authors have jobs at Stanford University as professors, but they are all very well educated and went to very prestigious schools to get to where they are today.  Clifton is a social sciences writer in the Stanford news as well as in the Futurity website also hosted by Stanford University.  Mello has a BA from Stanford, a MPhil from Oxford, a PhD from University of North Carolina Chapel Hill, and a JD from Yale Law School.  I would like to believe that those accomplishments would make her a credible source and author for the Stanford News.  Studdert has a law degree from the University of Melbourne and a doctoral degree in Public Health and Health Policies from Harvard School of Public Health.  Studdert was a policy advisor to the Australian Minister for Health while also being a practicing attorney.  These three authors seem to be extremely credible based on their education and their line of work currently.  

• Last Updated 

The article was published July 23, 2015.  I would say that the information is current to say the least.  The article was published almost two months after the SB277 bill was signed, so about 6 months have gone by since this article was published.  The links that are in the article are only on the names of the two other authors: Mello and Studdert which lead to the same websites that I attached in the section above.  The link gave all of their credentials.  The only other link in the article was the link to the article that Mello and Studdert co-wrote in the New England Journal of Medicine in July of 2015.  

• Purpose

The purpose of this article is to inform the reader about all of the ins and outs of the vaccination controversy in California.  Parker discusses the enforcement issues involved with the bill as well as the legality behind it and four positive outcomes that will come from the passing of the SB277 bill.  The point of this article is really to just give all of the information available on what the new bill will do and why it is an issue to some California residents.  There really is not a side that Parker, Mello, or Studdert are trying to promote, instead they are showing both sides of the issue by describing the pros and cons of the bill being passed.  This article is strictly factual which is necessary to read in order to be knowledgeable enough to be able to take a side on the issue.    

• Graphics

There is only one picture in the article and it is just of a man holding a needle that most likely holds a vaccine in it.  In the background, there is a California flag so I guess it specifies that this article deals with California.  There really is not much about the graphic that is special or that really makes a big difference in the article.  The article would not have been any better or worse without the graphic.  

• Position on Subject

As I stated before in a section above, the article is not one-sided or biased.  Instead, the article is more informative for both sides of the argument.  Both sides can profit from reading this article since there is very good information to have and understand if the reader wants to be able to take a side in the argument.  There is information presented on both sides of the issue, bringing up the issues that come with enforcing the bill as well as what is legally correct about the bill being passed.  

• Links

The article leads to links to the Stanford Law School, but there aren't any other links that lead to other articles related to vaccines or public health.  The other links lead to sharing the article on social media whether it be on Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, or via email.  

_________________________________________________________________________________

The second source is a video of the Senator of California, Joel Anderson (R) speaking about the opposing side of bill SB277.  

"Senator Anderson Opposes SB277 in Defense of Religious Freedom 5.14.15"

• URL

The URL for this news source is .com.  It is the most common and most recognized domain suffix and anyone can buy a .com.  Although this source is on a .com website, the video itself comes from CA Senate Republican Caucus vimeo account.  The .com sources are not as reliable as a .edu, .gov, or .org, but the video itself is reliable based on the account that published it.  

• Author

The author from the video is the California Senate Republican Caucus account on vimeo since that account posted the video and the video dealt with the Republican party of California.  The account appears to be trustworthy since there are solely videos of the 15 elected Republican members of the California Senate.  There are almost 2,000 videos posted that are all about Republican politics which makes me believe that this account is not phony.  

• Last Updated

This video was updated in May of 2015, which was about a month before the SB 277 bill was signed and passed.  There have not been any updates on that specific video since the time that it was published, but there are constantly videos being uploaded to this account.  For example, the most recent video on the account is from earlier today, the 28th of January, 2016.  Other links that are on the page lead me to other videos posted from the California Senate Republican Caucus account.  The top three videos suggested are more on republican senators speaking with regards to the SB 277 bill.  However, one of the videos from Senator Stone talks about how he supports the bill while Senator Anderson does not approve of it completely.  Another video in that line-up is of Senator Huff opposing the bill because of his belief that personal freedom is being neglected.  These videos are still from the same account and are from the same courtroom which makes them seem credible. 

• Purpose

The purpose of this video is to show the reasons why the SB 277 bill should not be passed.  Although, Senator Anderson makes it clear that the only thing that he does not approve in the bill is that religion will not be a legitimate reason to not get vaccinated.  Senator Anderson's speech makes it clear that religious freedom should be given to everyone in the United States.  He brings up the fact that in prison, religions are allowed to be practiced, but now people going to public schools or private schools will not be able to properly practice their religion since it would be against the law to not get their child vaccinated.  Senator Anderson seems to be very persuasive and brings up very good points for the opposing side of the argument.  

Fry1989. "Joke Seal of the Republican Caucus of the Senate of California".
15/10/2011 via Wikimedia Commons.  Public Domain Generic License.   

• Graphics

Since this news source is a video, there are not any graphics besides the video footage itself of the Senator speaking in the courtroom.  It is helpful to see Senator Anderson speak because you can clearly see how confident he is in what he is saying by his body posture and his actions.  He doesn't need to look at papers for much of the speech which also shows his confidence in presenting the opposing side of the controversy.  Sometimes it is just a nice change to be able to listen and watch news be talked about instead of simply reading the information given to you.  

• Position on Subject

The source seems to be somewhat one-sided.  From watching only the Senator Anderson video, one would think that the California Republican Caucus vimeo account would only have videos promoting the "say no to SB 277" side, however there are other videos where Republican Senators in California are on the pro SB 277 side of the argument.  In the specific case of just the Senator Anderson video, the video seems to be very one-sided.  The people that profit from this video are those who are on the opposing side and need to know that there are politicians in California that are supporting their protests.  The viewers can also get learn more about the political aspect of the controversy rather than just the moral views of protesting the bill.  This video was posted on the official Coalition of California Vaccine Choice SB277 website.  I wouldn't think that the people in charge of the website and the protests would allow a video with false information to be so important on their homepage of the website.  It would only hurt them in their efforts to get the bill to be repealed. 

• Links

As I mentioned in the "Last updated" section above, the links that were available on the same page as the original video only led to other videos from the same vimeo account with just other California senators speaking on the SB277 issue as well as others.  The only other links available are for sharing the video on social media or via email.  There were not any links to other articles that the video related to, only other videos.  

Reddit and What I Found There

   So my first though to this blog entry was, "what the heck is Reddit?" I had heard of it a couple times but I honestly had no idea what it was.  After going on Youtube and watching a video on what the point of it all is, I understand now that it is a popularity based type of news website.  I also learned that there are no editors on Reddit, so the information can come from all over the place.  However, since the information is all scattered, it makes the news that I learn more interesting since it involves way more than just one topic of public health.  In this blog post, I will be discussing what is going on in the Reddit Public Health World and what stories are most interesting to me.

1.  What kinds of things do people in the Reddit forums seem to be discussing?
     What I first noticed on the Reddit Public Health page, was that a lot of the forums were personal and not all fact based.  There were a lot of questions that pertained to trying to get a job in the field of public health.  In the first slot, "the number one hot topic" was asking whether or not it was possible to avoid taking the CDC survey.  There were forums talking about internships that were available for public health as well as what to do after graduating graduate school and having a masters in biostatistics.  There were about three or more comments on each of the personal question forums that seemed to be beneficial to the person who posted.  There were very few posts that had articles attached to them which made me realize that these articles that were attached were popular and were "trending".   The forums that did have articles attached to them didn't have comments since they went straight to the site of the article.  The articles that I did see though were the same topics that I have seen all over the internet from the past blog entries.  There were forums on the Zika virus, the Flint water crisis, and the controversy of vaccinations.

2. The two most interesting debates that I found on Reddit:

• The safety of E-cigarettes 

Ecig Click. "Electronic Cigarette/Vaporizer/ E Cig". 12/11/14 via Flicker.
Creative Commons Generic License.  

     The debate on the safety of E-cigarettes was interesting to me because of the different kinds of people that commented on the article.  One of the users, shawnthesnail is a graduate student of public health in California and also owns a vape store.  He or she was arguing that the majority of the E-cigarettes that are made, are made to be extremely clean and safe while the handmade E-cigarettes won't be as safe.  He or she also noted that they are trying to get the vape liquids to be made with safer chemicals but that since they aren't getting the support they need from the public health officials, it is hard to keep the chemicals from being harmful.  However, shawnthesnail made a good point when he or she said that if the E-cigarettes are banned then they will just "go underground" and will probably be made in much poorer conditions leading to health conditions worsening from vaping.  Zeshan_Hashmi argued that smoking is bad for health whether it is tobacco or the vape.  However, the majority of the other commenters argued that the claim was not valid since there was really no evidence in the article that said one way or another about the health of E-cigarettes.  Personally, I agree with Zeshan_Hashmi in that all smoking is bad for you and I know that I don't appreciate any kind of smoke being blown into my face so I would love it if the E-cigarettes turned out to be not safe so less people would feel the need to use them.  Although there may not be any valid evidence in this specific article, I would like to believe that in the future there will be.  

illuminating9_11. "expose the lies SAY NO TO THE VACCINE".
08/10/09 via Flicker.  Creative Commons No-Deriv Generic License. 

• HPV Vaccines are underutilized

     The debate on vaccination has been quite popular on a lot of news sites recently.  In this conversation however, the users are discussing how when the HPV vaccine came out, their mothers did not want them to get the shot because it was "too new" and they didn't trust it.  The mothers thought that the vaccine would backfire and end up doing chronic damage to their daughters.  But grumpywumps noted that there was once a story in the news where people got sick supposedly from the HPV vaccine but it turned out to be from something else besides the vaccine.  Even after the confusion was all cleared up, people were still uneasy about getting the vaccine since they didn't want to get sick.  

     Some of the users were saying that the reason that they didn't get the vaccine, besides the reason of their mother's not letting them, was the price of the shot.  letsmakeart said that she would have gotten her shot now, but it is far too expensive and her insurance won't cover it.  This is also the problem with vaccines-their price.  Although, I think that even if it takes a lot of money, in the end it will have been worth it because you'll be healthy and ultimately saving money than had you waited and become more sick.

3.  My impression of Public Health after going on Reddit:
     Now that I have seen what other people talk about related to pubic health on social media sites and news sites, I see now that all sorts of people, not just professionals talk about daily controversies that deal with health issues.  People can have opinions on health topics, although I did notice that it is more beneficial to everybody when the people posting actually have knowledge on the topic before discussing it and arguing about it.  It not only helps the reader, but it helps to solidify the fact that the person arguing has legitimate reasons to be saying the things he or she is saying.  Public health is applicable in all situations for all types of people and that is why I think I am so excited to major in it.

Evaluation of News Magazine Stories

     I never realized how much information was accessible on the internet until doing this blog entry.  I searched through at least 6 different news magazines learning about all sorts of different tid bits here and there.  I finally came across some articles that pertained to my major though.  Time Magazine was one of the magazines that instantly caught my attention.  Through Time I found my article on the Zika Virus which has intrigued me over the past couple of days (as you may have seen in my previous blog entries).  The second magazine that interested me was in Newsweek and it had an article that discusses the organ drones saving lives.  Reading these articles really solidified the passion I have for Public Health.

     Time Magazine: "Zika Virus Could Be Spread Through Sex, Cases Suggest"

• What is the conflict in the story?

         Originally, doctors were saying that Zika would be spread through sex which is why some countries in South America, such as El Salvador, requested a two-year sex ban to reduce the spread of disease.  However, there were only two cases that showed that the Zika virus was spread through sex.  So, there are medical professionals suggesting that the federal government inform everyone of the Zika disease, not just women that are pregnant or are thinking of becoming pregnant.   So the conflict is that the federal government is only informing the pregnant women but they aren't informing travelers about the risk of going to South America where Zika has been prevalent through the large population of mosquitos living there.  

     The only two cases recorded by scientists that showed evidence that Zika is sexually transmitted were found in 2008 by a Colorado woman and her husband, and then also a 44 year-old man from French Polynesia.  The Colorado couple, Mr. and Mrs. Brian D. Foy, discovered that the virus had to be sexually transmitted when none of their children carried the virus in their blood.  However since those cases were such a long time ago, it is difficult to base the present situation off of them because those could have been unusual cases.  Now the virus could be airborne since there haven't been any other recent cases that show that Zika is sexually transmitted.  

G. Clark, Gary. "Dengue06" 2006 via WikimediaCommons.
Public Domain License.  

    The CDC (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention) argue that there isn't sufficient evidence to warn travelers about the virus since there are potentially two cases that suggest the virus is only sexually transmitted.  

• Who is the most sympathetic character in the story?

     The character in the article that I feel most sympathy for is Brian D. Foy.  After finding that the blood tests for Zika virus came back positive after traveling to Senegal (near Africa), he has been trying to raise money for research on the Zika virus and how it is passed on to others.  He and his wife went on a trip to a foreign country and came back with a virus that could have caused serious issues had they tried to become pregnant after the trip.  The Zika virus causes severe birth defects and paralysis.  Luckily, their children didn't get the virus, however, it shows evidence that the people out in the world who are pregnant, could have the virus and potentially be giving birth to a baby with severe brain issues once born.  

• Who is the least sympathetic character in the story?

Wolff, Phil. "cdc logo". 03/13/09 via Flicker.
Creative Commons Generic License. 

     The "character" in the story that I feel the least amount of sympathy towards would be the officials from the CDC.  Yes, it is their job to control the outbreak of diseases and help to prevent them, but I do not understand why they wouldn't warrant a warning to all travelers leaving the United States if it would help prevent the disease from spreading.  Personally, I would warn all travelers, no matter where they go, that there is a risk that there is a virus from mosquitos going around that could lead to birth defects and paralysis.  Everyone has the right to be warned, even if there isn't enough evidence, I think that it is better to be safe than sorry.  Even if the virus is only spread through sex, it is important that everyone is aware of this so that they can take precautions and know what is and is not safe.  I have no sympathy for the officials who seem to care more about science than the health and safety of other people.  

_________________________________________________________________________________

Newsweek: "Medical Transport Drones Could Transform Health Care in Overcrowded Cities"

• What is the conflict in the story?

b k. "world class traffic jam". 03/23/08 via Flicker.
Creative Commons Generic License. 

The main issue here is that the traffic in overcrowded cities is ridiculous when the time comes for emergency vehicles to get through.  In India specifically New Delhi, an 8-mile stretch of road can take up to 2 hours.  However, with the collaboration of the police department and the hospitals, the police were able to stop traffic and allow the emergency vehicle carrying an organ soon to be donated through the traffic.  That 8-mile route took only 13 minutes.  The problem is that the police can't be stopping traffic everyday for emergencies.  Although it would be nice, and many more lives would be saved, it is just unrealistic.  In order to combat this problem, women in Spain tried to design a drone that would be able to transport the organ from one hospital to the other.  However the cost of making two drones, a base station, two piloting consoles, training, and sanitation with ultraviolet radiation is around $2.7 million.  There isn't enough money for New Delhi to pay for that so nonprofit organizations are trying to help pay for it.  David Carro Meana, the inventor of the drone Gimball is also working with the nonprofits to try to find a way to make the drones available for use in not only New Delhi, but all around the world.  

• Who is the most sympathetic character in the story?

Churchill, Sam. "dhl". 07/03/13 via Flicker.
Creative Commons Generic License. 

     I think that the character that I feel most sympathy for is Meana, the president of the IFFE, a business school in Spain that focuses socially responsible innovation.  He not only was able to invent a drone that fit all of the requirements needed to have the drone work special for transporting organs, but he is working to make the drone available to the cities that are overcrowded and really need a way to transport organs during severe traffic.  Knowing that there are people in the world that are actually putting their time and money and knowledge towards something meaningful makes me support him and his cause.  He worked hard, and it shows.  Hopefully, his work will get to be put to use and will save a lot of lives.

• Who is the least sympathetic character in the story?

The people in New Dheli during the really bad traffic are who are I have the least amount of sympathy for.  They are already waiting in traffic long enough, so why not allow the police to create the "Green corridor" (where the police make the cars go to the side of the road and keep all of the lights green so the emergency vehicles can pass by easily) and help save a life or two?  It seems to be pointless to make a big fuss about having to wait for the ambulance to pass when the time the drivers spent on the side of the road is not that much different to the time that they would have spent sitting in their cars waiting for the traffic to go.  The problem with the green corridor is that police have other things that they need to take care of like crime and punishment rather than stopping traffic everyday.  

Twitter and What I Found There

     After having deleted Twitter about one year ago, I have once again ventured back into the world of tweets and hashtags.  However this time I'm following things that I actually find interesting and not just how sad Becky is that her boyfriend broke up with her.  I mean real life things that happen in the field of Public Health.

R, Denise. "twitter-logo-1".  10/31/12 via Flicker.
Attribution 2.0 Generic License. 

• What's happening on Twitter these days pertaining to Public Health?

     Well, after stalking the APHA (American Public Health Association) for far too long, I learned so much about what was happening not only in the United States, but all over the world in the field of public health.  I read multiple articles about new scientific discoveries and different outbreaks of diseases around the world.  There were posts on new breast feeding tactics, the Zika outbreak, and different health care options.  I found a multitude of article topics.  There were maybe only two posts pertaining to the same topic.  I was also scrolling through the 6,585 people that the APHA account was following and I found some other incredible resources.  The followers included multiple state health departments, passionate moms and doctors wanting to comment on their views of public health, as well as a plethora of different colleges and their specific public health department of that school. 

     What I also found were tweets from people talking about how public health affected their daily lives.  There was a tweet from a transgender who was happy that public health saved her $40 a month on hormones.  Hillary Clinton's twitter also posted articles on the Zika birth defect disease.  There were all different types of things that people were tweeting about that I never realized were that prevalent in every day lives.  

     Some of the major topics that are discussed on Twitter deal with controversial health care plans or just new controversies that have been updated dealing with medicinal issues around the world.  I have learned more about new discoveries around the world in the time that I spent looking through Twitter posts than I have over the last few months just by checking Yahoo! News every so often.  It really is incredible how fast news travels when so many people who care about a topic come together and discuss it.  

• 2 Interesting Stories I Found on Twitter

Folic Acid and Pregnancy

TipsTimesAdmin. "1. pregnancy". 12/25/13 via Flicker.
Creative Commons Generic License. 

     I found this article extremely interesting especially since I spent the majority of last semester in my Nutrition class learning about the importance of folic acid in the diets of pregnant women.  But if I am going to be completely honest, the main reason I find articles on pregnancy intriguing is because all I want in life is to be a mom. 

    After working at a daycare for the past 2 and a half years, I have become obsessed with children (in a non creepy way) and so I love learning new ways to have healthy children and have their life start well even while they are in the womb.  So, with this article, I once again learned about the importance of folic acid for the baby while they are growing inside the mother.  Folic acid decreases the possibilities of your child having spina bifida (a spinal cord defect where there is a "hole" in the backbone where the spinal cord never finishes developing).  Since spina bifida is not curable, it is extremely important that your baby doesn't develop this birth defect.  

     I really enjoyed finding more information about this specific birth defect and I liked to know that a lot of people talk about folic acid on twitter daily.  

Nurses Not Following Guidelines for Standard Precautions

Jordan, Doug.  "A nurse giving a woman a flu vaccine shot".
Via FreeStock Photos.  Public Domain License.

     This article  on nurses not following standard procedure immediately caught my attention.  For as long as I can remember I wanted to be a nurse (however over the past year I changed my mind).  But when I saw that nurses were becoming sloppy with the handling of viruses, I was taken aback.  I had always looked up to nurses for always knowing what to do and handling situations with care and easy.  After reading this article though, I realized that the nurses throughout the U.S. were caring less and less about their own health as well as the health of others in the contamination department. According to the article, less than 1 in 5 nurses did all of the 9 procedures that are necessary to avoid disease transactions.  It is really interesting to me to find out all of the secrets of being a real-life nurse and not just the nurse that I had always dreamed up in my head.  

     Learning information that is vital to everyday life apparently can so easily be found on social media sites like Twitter.  

• My Currently Updated Thoughts on Twitter Regarding Public Health     

     Going on Twitter again and seeing the thousands of tweets involved with Public Health really solidified why I was so interested in majoring in it in the first place.  I can now clearly see how important public health is to lives all around the world. 

   The people that were posting about Public Health came from all different backgrounds which was a bit surprising.  There were mothers, doctors, state governments, politicians, college professors, nonprofit health agencies, and hundreds of health foundations all over the country.  I expected doctors and health related companies to be tweeting about certain health issues or new discoveries, but I never thought that famous people (without a scientific background) or even just regular people like mothers and grandmothers and dad would be interested in this too.  

     Public health doesn't just have to deal with health care plans like I had once thought.  Instead, I can work to inform others of new scientific findings that can better lives, or inspire others to promote healthy living and get vaccinated.  I really found myself appreciating the field of Public Health much more after going through the Twitter feed and reading all of the different posts about it.  I may even consider recreating my Twitter just so I can follow the APHA account and learn legitimately valuable things instead of what Becky wore to school yesterday.  

  

Evaluation of New York Times Stories

For this project, I had to go exploring through the different sections of The New York Times and find two articles that really caught my eye.  The two topics that I went exploring through were Health and in Science.

Health: "When the Water Turned Brown" Jan. 23, 2016

woodleywonderworks. "water is unfit for human consumption".  11/20/09 via Flicker.
Creative Commons Attribution 2.0 Generic License 

1. Main Characters

     Dr. Mona Hanna-Attisha, a local pediatrician in Flint, Michigan, was not originally seen as the protagonist of this unfortunate disaster.  Instead, she was viewed as the hysterical doctor who made the local and state government look bad.  However, Dr. Hanna-Attisha ended up saving the town of Flint, Michigan.  Had she not brought up the fact at a news conference that the tap water was not healthy and was leading to an increase in lead levels in the blood of the Flint children, residents of this small town may not have started paying attention to the smell and the look of the tap water.  Unfortunately, the Department of Health and Human Services said that Dr. Hanna- Attisha's findings were not found in the tests that the state did.  So the state made the pediatrician look insane while the state covered up their mistake of not testing the water correctly.  

2.  The Setting 

      This upsetting health issue happened in the small town of Flint, Michigan around September 2015.  It is a town that has dwindled down from 195,000 in 1960 to a mere 100,000 people.  With this extreme decline in population, the city decided that it would make more sense to save money and start using the water from Lake Huron instead of from Detroit resources. However, a pipe had to be built so in the meantime, Flint residents would be getting water from the Flint River.  The big problem with this is that Flint used to be a giant automobile manufacturing site.  It was where the General Motors engine plant had been.  So, the Flint River had been the place to throw all of the waste from the cars.  

     Since so many jobs in the car industry had been rid of, the town has become a small sort of ghost town.  One mother of 4 kids, Tammy Loren, lives off of federal disability payments and food stamps.  This became an issue when she realized that one of her sons had a rash and itchy skin on his neck that she noticed came from showering with the tap water.  She tried to only buy bottled water however, a lot of the time, there was just not enough money to have clean water and food to eat.  For the less fortunate families, the contaminated water was a major issue that wasn't being solved but was affecting the lives of family members who couldn't do anything about it.  

Michian Municipial League. "Flint Vehicle City Arches in Downtown Flint During Back to the Bricks 2013".
08/2013 via Flicker. Creative Commons Attribution 2.0 Generic License.  

                

3.   The Dilemma

    The main issue with the Flint water pollution was that the state was trying their best to do everything they could to prove that nothing was wrong with the water.  When E. coli was found in the water, instead of switching water sources, the state put more chemicals in the water to rid of the bacteria which in turn caused more health problems because TTHMs (chemical compounds that can lead to health issues after long exposure) became present.  Gerald Ambrose, the state appointed medical emergency chair of the City Council of Flint said that the water met the federal and state standards and that the Detroit water wouldn't be any better it would just cost much more.  After many more tests done by the American Civil Liberties Union of Michigan, as well as Virginia Tech, the results came out to match what Dr. Mona Hanna-Attisha had found.  The lead contents in the water had severely increased over the years but somehow the state had managed to only get results that they wanted.  It was discovered that the city only retested the water in houses that already had lower lead content than others.  This way, the houses with a lot of lead content wouldn't be accounted for.  

     The results of this fiasco are that the residents of Flint, especially Tammy Loren, no longer trusts the people that work for the city or the state.  She no longer feels safe and she is constantly worried about the health of her four kids.  The people are furious that the city didn't try hard enough to help the health of the residents and all that they seemed to care about was money.  

_______________________________________________________________________________

Science: "El Salvador's Advice on Zika: Don't Have Babies" Jan. 25, 2016

1. The Main Character (or lack thereof) 

Lon&Queta.  "Mujer y Hija". 08/11/07 via Flicker.
Creative Commons Non-Commercial License

    In this article, the women of El Salvador and the government are really the "characters" of the story.  The women of El Salvador have mixed views on not getting pregnant for two years.  Some of the women say that it is just the government trying to cut down on the dense population, while others say that there are other reasons why waiting a couple years isn't a bad idea.  The government is a bit iffy on the whole subject.  Dr. Eduardo Espinoza, El Salvador's vice minister of health, mentioned that government's initial plan did not involve halting pregnancy for two years.  However, the World Health Organization strongly discourages the so-called "pregnancy ban".

2.  The Setting
     The setting in this article is El Salvador.  However, the article describes El Salvador to be the most violent country in the Western Hemisphere.  So, women already are worried about becoming pregnant because of the violence and the gangs that are ever-present in their lives and they don't want their babies to be born in those circumstances.  Another issue that the women of El Salvador worry about is the extreme poverty of their country.  Zika seems to be less worrisome for the potential mothers which makes the government's job a bit easier.  However, El Salvador is a heavily Roman Catholic country.  So the government can't impose a law saying that they have to use contraception and stop having babies if that is against their religion.  But the government really has no choice but to bring up the situation with the archbishop because it is important to the health of the other El Salvadorian people and the possible future babies.
   The main reason that El Salvador is in the predicament that they are, is because it is an underdeveloped country with poor sewage systems.  El Salvador is also prone to having a wet climate.  With these two factors, mosquitos are more likely to nest there.  This is why Zika has become so prevalent.

3.  The Dilemma

Hadley Collins, Frank.  "Close-up of a mosquito feeding on blood".
2006 via FreeStock Photo.  Public Domain License.  

     The reason why El Salvador wants to halt pregnancy for two years is all due to the fact that mosquitos are running rampant through the wet and dirty streets of the impoverished country.  The problem is that mosquitos are extremely hard to get rid of when the condition that the country is in is the absolute perfect spot for them to live and nest.  So, while the mosquito problem hopefully dies down and the Zika disease is no longer such a threat to the El Salvadorian population, women can start to become pregnant again.  But there are some women who don't agree with that government issued policy, and there are some who are more worried about the other dangerous factors for the lives of their future babies than the disease that leads to brain damage and a small skull.   

Course Projects

     Throughout the next semester,  I will be doing four major projects.  There are four different types of projects that I must complete and they must all be done using a different genre.  The four different types of projects are the following: a controversy postmortem, a rhetorical investigation, a public argument, and a reflective self-assessment.

Pierre Gallot, Gene. "Stress". 02/08/13 via Flickr.
Attribution 2.0 Generic License

• What am I most nervous about regarding the four major projects?

I am nervous for the timing of each of the projects.  Since I am taking other extremely time-consuming classes, I am worried that my time management skills may fail me and I will be extremely stressed.  More specifically, I am worried that the rhetorical investigation will be very difficult to do because of the two interviews that need to be conducted.  I am not very close with any of the TAs or the professors yet for my classes that pertain to my majors, so I am not sure how I will be able to interview either of them.  I am also worried that for the controversy postmortem, I won't be able to find a topic that I find interesting and that has a lot of information on it.

• What am I most interested in or excited by regarding the four major projects?

I am very interested to see how the public argument goes.  I have strong opinions towards certain things every once in a while, so I am excited to see if those strong opinions will be able to be put to use and what they will be used on.  I am also excited to conduct the interviews for the rhetorical investigation.  Although I said that I was nervous about them earlier, it also brings some excitement since I will get to talk to a TA or professor or a professional about what it's like to do what I think I want to do after college.  I am also very excited for the reflective self-assessment to see how I have grown and improved over the course of the semester.  I am interested to see how much I learn and how much more successful I can be in writing after the self-assessment.

• Based on my understanding of the major projects, what are the elements of this course that I have to plan ahead for? How will the coursework described in the four project assignment sheets challenge my time management skills this semester?

I know that I will have to plan ahead for all of the major projects.  The weekends will be a vital time to get a lot of the planning done.  The interviews for the rhetorical investigation will need to be planned ahead of time so that I can work out a good time to meet up with the professor, TA, or professional.  I should also plan ahead to start thinking of good topics that are interesting to me that have a lot of good and trustworthy information to use on any of the projects (except the self-assessment).   As I said earlier, time management will definitely be put to the challenge this semester.  I need to make sure that I don't let myself procrastinate on any of the deadlines for the projects, as it would result in a poor effort and consequently a poor grade on my assignment.  Putting my school work first is definitely going to be my number one priority for the semester and making sure that I prioritize certain assignments correctly so I have enough time for the big projects.

• How has my past English coursework in high school or college prepared me for the challenges of this course? What skills will I bring into the course?

My past English coursework in high school has definitely not prepared me for the challenges of this course.  My high school English classes were never helpful in teaching me how to write a decent essay.  There were never any big assignments in my English classes.  I did, however, have other very challenging classes in high school and in my first semester of college that I believe has prepared me for the rigor of this class.  I believe that I can bring a unique view of interpreting information into the course.  I like to look at different ways of interpreting information other than just the way that the majority of people may view it.  I am also good at editing and I believe that I could help others correct any mistakes they may have in their blogs when we do the  Read/Reply/Reflect assignments.

• Do I have any questions about the four major projects that haven't been answered by the assignment sheets? What do I still want to know?

Currently, I do not have any specific questions about the four major projects that haven't already been answered by the assignment sheets.  The only thing that I want to know is that this class will help me grow as a writer and that I will be able to get through the class without ripping all of my hair out.  However, I am very excited to see how my four major projects turn out and I wonder if the projects will be as hard as I am thinking they will be.


REFLECTION:
After reading through Eyal Ron and Marisa Kubacki's posts, I feel much better about my stress-level.  I know now that I am not alone in my worries about these projects and that there will definitely be a strong support system out there for me.  I know that I am not the only one that never really learned how to write in different genres and I have learned that it's okay to be anxious about learning them.  I no longer feel like this dog gif.  I feel like I can do this class and feel confident about my work.  

Investigating Genres: The Video Essay

     The Video Essay, in my opinion, is the most popular in this time and age, especially for young adults.  It is accessible and easy to understand which is what young people find enjoyable to watch as their source of information.

• What purpose does the Video Essay usually serve? 

This genre is much like a television show.  The purpose of this genre is to get information out on a subject and have a visual image of the information, as well as a narration so that no reading needs to be done.  All of the information is gathered through a voice and a compilation of images and videos.  It involves very little effort to pay attention to the video essay and it is intriguing when there are examples to see or watch while being described.

leti_valde94. "Youtube_logo".  01/11/11 via Flickr.
Attribution 2.0 Generic License 

• Where, how, or in what context do readers usually find this genre?

Readers would have the most success finding this genre on the internet.  Youtube, social media like Twitter or Facebook, or a news website all contain easy access to informative videos.  The readers can search up on any search engine any topic that they want to know more about and there will surely be multiple videos available to watch and to learn from.  The information could be opinion based or it could be supported by trustworthy cites or texts.  The reader can watch a video essay whenever they please on whatever topic they'd like and they have multiple resources to do so.

• Who is the typical audience for the video essay?

It seems that the audience ranges from teenagers to young adults to technologically savvy older adults.  However, the young adults appear to have the most knowledge on where to find these video essays.  The young adults also seem to be the ones making a lot of the video essays, so it would make sense that they are the majority of the ones that watch other video essays.  A lot of the older generations are just used to reading to gather information, so the idea of listening and watching a video to retain information might appear to be a waste of time or not necessary when there is an article available to quickly read.

• What are some of the key features or characteristics that are unique to this genre, distinguishing it from other texts?

The video essay is distinguishable from the other genres because it is a visual text that also includes audio.  There is no need to read an article during the video essay to get the information.  Instead, the key features of a video essay is that the audience can just sit back, relax and watch a video on something that is interesting or appealing to them.  There is no work that needs to be done to get the information out.  All of the information will come to the reader through videos shown or pictures that are explained in detail.  It is a lot like an informative short movie which is appealing to a lot of younger audiences making it more and more popular.

• How would I define a video essay in my own words?

A video essay is an easily accessible way to learn information through a narration with audio, images, and videos to clearly express an opinion or information on any given topic.

 REFLECTION:
     After reading a couple of my classmates' posts about the different genres, it left me feeling a lot more confident in finding success in this class.  Marisa Kubacki's post on video essays really helped me realize that not only would I actually be able to do a video essay (since they are done everyday and I watch them frequently without even realizing what genre of writing it really is) but that I would also be able to be more myself in my posts and not worry about trying to be formal about my writing.  Her writing flowed very nicely and her voice was clear to see.  This inspired me to try to be more myself when I am writing.
     After reading Eyal Ron's post on a Quick Reference Guide, I felt much better about being able to complete this assignment and not feel like it would be impossible.  He clearly outlined the purpose of a QRG and he made his answers so concise that I realized how simple the QRG could be.  It made much more confident to find a topic that I truly find interesting and write about it in a way that someone who does not know much about it could understand.
     I am very excited to see where this class takes me and my writing skills, especially after reading these two posts.

My Writing Process: How I Succeed (or don't) By Being a "Heavy Reviser"

     In my four years of high school, never once did I truly get taught how to write well.  The only thing that was taught was the classic 5 paragraph essay with an introduction and a conclusion with three body paragraphs in the middle.  Now, I can easily find the reason why I write the way I do.  The following bullet points will explain what being a "Heavy Reviser" is really like.  

• What type of writer do I consider myself to be?

I consider myself to be a highly self-conscious writer, especially when it involves writing on topics and genres that I am not so familiar with.  Much like when I talk, in my writing I tend to ramble on and cannot seem to write my opinions clear and concise.  That being said, revising my first draft is normally a disaster.  Knowing that my ideas are scattered all over the place in one 5 paragraph essay, I am never confident in my work, even if I spent a great deal of time trying to make the final draft amazing.  

McPhee, Nic.  "2008-01-26 (Editing a paper)-31".  01/26/08 via Flikr.
Attribution-ShareAlike

• What writing approaches does my writing process include? 

My writing normally has multiple drafts.  However, the first draft is always a mess.  My approach to writing usually starts off with just rambling off my ideas and trying to format those ideas into some kind of a 5 paragraph essay.  After the rambling, I use up the majority or the ink in my red pen and edit and revise until there are ideas clearly stated in an organized format.  That editing usually takes two or three drafts until I feel that the essay can be understood from someone else's point of view without leaving them confused or lost.  

• Does my writing process seem to be successful? What are the strengths and weaknesses of my approach?

In my experience with this writing approach, I seem to have a decent amount of success.  The times when I find that I don't have such great luck is when I don't have the time and effort that it takes to do all of the editing and revising.  It is a long process and it takes a lot of patience from me so it is hard for me to stay focused and really get all of the editions done.  However, when I do have the time and the patience to really do well and make sure the paper is as well done as possible, I have found that I do have a lot of success.  The strength that I find with my "Heavy Revising" approach is that I am never short on ideas to write about.  When I am able to ramble on about something, I find that many different topics or opinions come up that I would not have thought of had I just tried so hard to think of something off the top of my head.  I have found that taking things out is much easier than trying to add ideas in.  

• Would it be beneficial for me to try a different approach? 

As I mentioned earlier, this approach is how I have been writing for the past four years.  I have gotten used to writing down all my ideas and then finding what is important and what is not.  If I did try a different approach it may be to a "Heavy Planner".  This way I would be able to be constantly thinking of what to write about and then when the time comes to actually write the essay, I would be able to construct a more organized and clear essay.  However, I have a very short memory, so I don't know if I would be able to expand on those ideas without writing it all down and rambling on about it as I am used to doing.  It could be worth a shot to try out, although, I feel much more comfortable sticking with being the "Heavy Reviser" since I have taught myself to become a hard editor on my writing.