Monday, February 25, 2013

Starting at the Very Beginning: Idea Generation.

Research Ideas. Using two or three of the ideas you generated in class, free-write for at least ten minutes. Remember that free-writing isn't for an audience, so there are no rules. Just keep typing anything that comes into your head related to your topic, to help generate a topic on which you'd like to focus. 

11 comments:

  1. Idea #1: Child Poverty
    When I think of child poverty I think of third world countries, namely Africa. I think of the children sitting on the streets with no food and little clothing. It is hard to imagine that in some countries, many children are forced to be the adult because they have to work in order to support themselves and their siblings. Sometimes, they even have to support their parent/ parents because they may be unable to work for whatever reason. Child poverty is a very real and heartbreaking thing that we can all help to eliminate.
    Idea #2: Education in third world countries
    Education is not emphasized as much in third world countries as it is in our nation today. Many children in these other countries only complete school up through fourth grade, then have to go and work in order to support themselves and their families. It is important that we push for education and that we do not take it for granted. There are many programs today that are trying to encourage children in third world countries to continue/ start their education. A lot of times, food is used as bribery to get the children to school. This is effective because it is free food that they can get for themselves and their families by simply showing up to school everyday.

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  2. I decided to look into something that is very kairotic across the nation for the past few years up until now. Homosexual marriage. This is a slightly difficult thing to write about because sometimes we just want to make everyone happy and not offend anybody. But regardless of that we still must be willing to speak our mind and voice our opinions on such a serious topic. I personally do not support homosexuality in general however just because I do not support their lifestyle that does not mean that I condemn them or have a great averance to them, they are still people in my eyes no better or worse than I am. I also know that there are many homosexuals who do not blatantly flaunt their feelings in public to all around, and it is not to them that I address, I address those who simply do things for the purpose of upsetting the general public and are trying to go against all general norms for attention. They have made their choice and I have made mine so don't try to force anything on me and I won't force anything on you. I don't even like it when a heterosexual couple shows affection in public, so it should be no different of the homosexual preference.
    Another topic that I am looking into is the differences found between the American Military and the American media. This came to me as a fairly serious topic when I read a book “Lone Survivor” long story short story of a Navy SEAL mission gone wrong. The reason that the mission went so wrong is because of a single choice made by the SEAL team, and that choice was directed entirely on what they knew that the American media would make them out to be evil in their choice and how because of that they chose a different route which ended with three killed soldiers and one nearly being a prisoner of war against an enemy that has no “rules of engagement” as our military does. This all because of the fear of what the media would say about these men. This also could include the wars going on in the middle east in general; what is going right and what is going wrong

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  3. The topic that I brainstormed about on Monday was also Homosexual marriage, particularly whether or not it should be allowed by law. I have always been an opponent of legalizing gay marriage, though I don't hate homosexuals for being homosexuals. I had a couple friends in high school who were homosexuals and were perfectly nice people. I also new several people in high school who firmly believe in giving rights to people of all sexual orientation.

    Because of this, I have often found myself trying to find a logical explanation for why I believe gay marriage should not be allowed (because I had to answer my friends' questions in some way besides "I just feel that it is wrong").As I thought about this, I wanted to think of reasons why gay marriage would not be a good idea for society. I thought about past societies in which homosexuality was common (Sodom and Gomorrah, Greece). Could these countries have been negatively affected by homosexuality? I also thought about the benefits of having a male and female parent as opposed to 2 of the same gender.

    I then began to think about (or I should say remember because I have often thought about it) why homosexual couples desire to be married. Is it for the financial benefits? Is it because they want to feel accepted? Is it because they want to show their love for their homosexual partner? Is it because they think that it is 'fair'? I thought deeply into these topics and how I could address them. Why not give civil unions the same benefits as marriage so that isn't the reason why they get married? Why allow homosexuals to be married in order to fit in? What is love and what are acceptable ways to show love? Who should you be able to have intimate relationships with? What does 'fair' mean? Is marriage really a constitutional right(something that started in traditional religion and for some reason became available through government)? What is 'fair'? How do we determine what is 'fair'?

    I have thought about these ideas many a time and believe I might find my answer in answering these questions. I hope that the information I find might be able to convince people of the value of traditional marriage and the disadvantages of homosexual marriage.

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  4. #1: Media Bias and Social Effects
    I have written a little on this in previous classes, but nothing very deep. Mostly I just had to write a report, rather than a research paper. I am interested in covering how media bias (especially towards the "bloody" and "cruel" areas of society) first started out, and if it is possible to change it. It always seems that the news covers stories that are scary, bloody, or just silly/entertaining. Although it seems like these don't go together, they work together to say that society is only interested in people that make fools of themselves, and accidents, or disasters that have occurred, making society appear very much thug-like. Whenever people want to hear about real news (new ideas, concepts, discoveries) they usually have to go somewhere other than the normal news stations. There are times when coverage of disasters is a good thing to know about, but they are often exaggerated, and used to inform people of devastation, instead of call them to action or assistance. Society would be better off if people were told to help other people, and not just to feel bad for them, because feeling bad doesn't help anybody. In fact, it just helps people feel worse about themselves. I think this could tie into another subject I'm interested in, which is the individualization and separation of society.
    #2: The Importance of the Individual, but the emphasis on bringing your goods to the table
    I have read a few books about how the individual has an effect on society, and have heard reports on how people are becoming more cut off from each other, despite the greater connectivity that technology provides. I think this can be evidenced by how few people like going to the doctor or the dentist. Did such connections used to mean social interaction, and are thus less necessary for people to connect, since they can just go on facebook, twitter, or pinterest, and have connections (a different type, but still connections) with people without seeing them face to face. However, are there benefits to meeting and talking face-to-face? Don't most companies have face-to-face interviews before they actually hire somebody?

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  5. Youth poverty. How do people get into poverty? How do you get out of poverty? Is education always the solution? Speaking of education, who decided that classrooms and tests and reading was the only way to be taught? There are so many people who have so many talents in other aspects? Why do we only judge a person's intelligence based upon grades and test scores? When did our society get like that? Will it always be like that? Obviously people need to read and do basic math, but the traditional school system seems to be failing so many children. Is it just the society we live in and I just have to get over it? Anyway, so school systems, poverty, recycling. Farming. Organic food. Who said organic food is better? and why would they say that? i don't really get that. Poverty. Poverty in America or poverty in the world? Because I think that poverty in America is a really serious subject, however, and although I have no first hand experience, I think that American poverty is probably different than poverty throughout the world. What is the poorest country in the world? I think someone once mentioned that it's India. But also, aren't American schools rated really low when compared to other countries? I don't really know but that sounds accurate. What percentage of high school students go to college? Is that correlated with the size of town they were raised in? Does being raised in a small town change how a person reacts in situations? I think my brother mentioned something about three of the "whistle-blowers" in the recent Enron debacle were religious women, raised in small towns, and they were also the oldest sibling in their families. Maybe I could find something to write about how being from a small town affects (effects??) a person. This is just me typing to fill space... Right, small towns. What kinds of questions do I have about that? I don't know. Small towns. they're super cool. Does being from a small town (find a population number) affect how an individual responds to authority? To schools? To poverty? To leadership roles? To religion? But also being from a city is cool, too. How does having a single parent working affect familial relationships? Does being raised by a single parent affect the education level of children? If so, how much and why? Has it been ten minutes? I feel like I'm running out of thoughts. Poverty, children, countries, the Oscars. Jennifer Lawrence tripped, that was funny. But her dress was cool.. I wonder if poor Indian children had to sew her dress.. Probably not since it was haute couture but I guess it's possible. What jobs do most child laborers have? I want to say sewing clothes, but that could be a completely uneducated guess. Maybe I'll write about growing up in a small town. That's something I know about. I want cereal. Who makes cereal? Do foreign countries have cereal? I'd be really sad if I lived somewhere and didn't have lucky charms. Russia. I know that Russians don't have peanut butter. Or a lot of other staple foods. Or really good candy. I wonder if that makes them sad. How poor is Russia as a nation? Is there a lot of poverty there? I feel like Russia is pretty first world, but again, I have no clue. I'm pretty sure my roommate said that they have Clinique and that seems pretty not third world. Are there second world countries? What countries are second world? What does that even mean. Like they aren't poor ENOUGH to be third world and they're not developed ENOUGH to be first world? That must be kind of sad to always be in the middle. Okay, I think it's been ten minutes of insane thoughts from ashlyn.

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  6. Recently, I've been really into Korean culture. One thing that recently intrigued me about Korea is that its laws are very conservative. Adultury is a criminal offense, and there are also very strict laws against homosexuality. However, Korea isn't a Christian nation. So why does it hold so tightly to Christian values?
    Also, the media in Korea is very full of things that are against these social norms. Lots of members of Korean boy bands kiss on stage, and it's just considered fan service. Recently, a lot of Korean television shows have been tackling the idea of homosexuality and the anguish caused to those involved, because of the societal pressures on them. It certainly isn't at the level that American shows are at (It's really hard to find a TV show nowadays that DOESN'T have a gay character in it) but I thought it was an interesting dichotomy. It reminded me of The Victorian Era, where the people toted themselves up as so righteous and proper, but their literature was full of passion and violence. I thought it would be interesting to see the relationship the media has with society as a whole.
    Also, I just watched this awesome show called Gaksital about the Japanese occupation of Korea. I thought it would be interesting to research that, becaue I don't know a lot about it. I was thinking about what the long term effects were of that time. I imagine that when Korea finally gained its independance, it didn't go back to exactly the way it was before. The occupation definitely changed Korean culture in some ways, so I wanted to research what they were.

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  7. So the first idea that popped into my mind was a Dowry. A dowry is property or money brought by a bride to her husband on their marriage. Dowry's in India cause many deaths because the man is not satisfied by what his women offers. Is a dowry wrong? That got me thinking about death. Recently, as most of you know, there was a gang a rape on a public bus in New Delhi which has stormed fanatical crowds and riots. The rape occurred on December 16th, 2012 in the late evening when the lady was headed home from work. This led me to think about a women's role in society; should they work domestic or urban? Which ties to a debate of education vs. peasant? People have tried to argue that "women should not be out that late or let alone working in public facilities so its her fault she got raped." In my opinion that is obviously not true. That triggered thoughts about all the different opinions about this story, especially in India and realized the opinions and debates varied from one region to the next. Thus, it would be interesting to look at all the standpoints and analyze them.

    These are the many ideas I thought about and still need to narrow down. I believe my main idea will be the status of women in India. My paragraph has no structure to it whatsoever so I apologize.

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  8. The first idea I had in class has to do with the foster care system. My parents have done foster care for many years, so I have a great love for these kids that don't have any other home. The problem with doing a topic like this is that anything I choose to write aout will be controversial. (which I guess is tru of any issues topic.) There are quite a few problems with the foster care system, but the reason they still exist is that there is no easy solution. For example, what age should kids become emancipated? What are the costs that are to be considered? What should we do about the shortage of foster parents? Are kinship placements good or bad? Are kids taken from their parents too often, or are they left with their parents in bad environments too often?

    Another topic that sparks my attention recently is the mission age change. For my issues paper I don't want to write about anything too serious. There are still a lot of questions to be asked in this topic though, even though it isn't as serious as an issue such as gay marriage, or abortion. For example, are girls and guys (but especially girls) going to be going on a mission for the right reasons now that the age is lower? Is there unfair pressure from the "Mormon Community" for girls to go on missions now and pressure for guys to go straight out of high school? Will this have a negative effect on the number of marriages and families started, or will it encourage more dating and more marriages? I think missions are a great thing! I just got my mission call and I'm planning on leaving on one myself! Yet there are some questions relating to the topuc that have yet to be answered...

    One last topic I've thought about writing about is the legalization of marijuana in Washington and Colorado. In Colorado the money that comes from the sale of marijuana will be used for the educational system. Soesn't this seem a little bit backwards? The issue was very split last election, so I there will be lots of pros as well as cons to explore if I decide to write about this. Will marijuana use increase or decrease illegal activity? Will kids do better or worse in school because of it? Is the term "gateway drug" a legitimate thing? If so, how dangerous can it be? What are the negative effects of Marijuana in the first place?

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  9. Not completely sure about the topic I'm going to write about. But one thing that interests me is athletics both profession, collegiate, high school all the way down to the little leagues. Hand in hand with athletics is supplementation to enhance performance and improvement. Supplementation has allowed for huge advancements in athletes today and what they are capable of accomplishing. At the same time it has caused a lot of issues over what is okay and what is not. Many baseball players have been suspended of kicked out of the major leagues due to illegal use of hgh. Why is it illegal? What negative effects does it have? If it was available to ALL athletes would it still be unfair? One big occurrence in the supplementation department is okaying creatine in college sports. They are all know able to take good old creatine in conduction with their workouts. Why was it banned for so long? Why is it okay now? Why are supplements such a huge advantage to athletes? Is it improving sports and abilites and taking them to the next level where they couldn't go without it? I wonder how many basketball/football/baseball players take the "juice"(aka steroids) and are never caught? I bet a lot more than we think. At what age is serious training and supplementation good to begin at? When is too young? How involved should govt get in what athletes can do or for that case what the normal person can take? I know supplements such as protein creatine, etc certainly help me to stay fit and recover well. are their long term negative effects to certain supplements? Are their long term positive effects? do they promote an overall healthier individual?

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  10. Okay, let's see...fat. When did it become so small and compact a packet of energy? it's 9 calories per gram as compared to 4 cal per gram for protein and carbohydrates. Fat tastes good but we have it too much nowadays. We began as humans in trying to find food and our bodies have a mechanism - an entire different system - the lymphatic system - that enables us to use and store fat because we wouldn't come across it very much when we were foraging and hunting long ago. It was a means of making sure we had enough energy later on, not knowing when our next meal was. The problem is, though, why is fat so compact? it's not water soluble, so it doesn't have water in it, so that makes it able to have more energy in a smaller area - water takes up room and is somewhat heavy - ever noticed how a gallon of water weighs more than a gallon of air? Yeah, so a gallon of fat may weigh less than a gallon of water. that sounds gross..anyway, so if fat has no water, the bodies of animals and fruits and different foods genetically advanced to the point that they created mechanisms to store fat too. Fat's the same everywhere, except that there are different types of fats - triglycerides, phospholipids, and sterols. sterols, such as cholesterol, help synthesize things in the body. Phospholipids enable cells to work because they have a water-soluble and water-insoluble part to them. Um, triglycerides are what we think of as 'fat' and can be mono-saturated, poly-unsaturated, saturated, and artificially engineered to be trans fat, or the artificial form of saturated, but worse for a person. Ice cream has fat in it and that fat makes it taste good. sometimes the fats in ice creams are changed a bit more to make the ice cream creamier and richer. maybe it has something to do with getting the fat compounds, which are so small, to get smaller surface area spots affected at one time and to make more fat molecules able to affect the tongue.

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  11. Poverty. child poverty. many people are in poverty in third world countries when there is still an upper class in those same countries. India has leprosy colonies still much like the colony that was in Lanai (Hawaii). These people had their own island but were assimilated into society and Lanai was bought by Mr. Dole (Murdock) where there is now a huge hotel there that is really expensive. They also used to grow pineapples there.. but now they grow them in south america? Leprosy has a cure and immunizations now, so why does India still segregate them? is it cultural, religious, because of taboo, or maybe they just don't like the idea of other people being allowed to be a competitor to the upper class. These people also believe in reincarnation, so maybe that has an impact as to if they even try to get out of their current situations.

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