English Journal

2006-12-06T15:43:00.000-08:00

This is the last and final blog, I don't know whether to cry or laugh. All of you who still do read my blog it was nice knowing you have a nice life and good luck. Anyways we are suppose to write about the class and what we thought about it. Class was fine it forced me to think outside of the box a lot of the time which was good for me. I had to read things that I did not understand and try to make sense of them. Basically it caused me to get out of my comfort zone.

One thing I think we could have spent more time on is how to site sources. I still don't understand how to do it. The book doesn't help me because when I do look in the book I still do it wrong. So it would have been nice to spend some more time on that. I feel I am somewhat of a better writer I still suck at grammar no surprise there. But I feel like I know how to understand certain things better and that you don't have to stick to the standard format of writing which is the thesis and then five paragraphs.

This was a good class for me to take hopefully I get at least a B. Marcia this is a hint just kidding the grade I get is a reflection of what I did and the work I put into the class.

this is me signing off for the last time YEAH!!!!!!!!!!!!!

2006-11-30T16:13:00.000-08:00

So for this weeks blog we are suppose to write about peer reviews and what we thought about them. In my opinion I don't think peer reviews do any good for anybody. We are all on the same level in English so besides the simple mistakes no one is going to be able to really help me with my paper. I don't like peer reviews just because I am horrible at grammar so I have no right to make suggestions that will probably be wrong and then I don't know anymore about grammar than the next person.

I can read a paper and make sure it makes sense and follows the guidelines of the assignment sheet but besides that I am really no help to anyone. I can read my paper and find the same mistakes the peer reviewers are finding but I can do this outside of class. I think in ways it is a waste of a class period. Because of what I've seen no one including me has really helped any one in a significant amount on their papers when we have done the peer reviews.

So I think that the time should be given to the actual person to look at their paper read through it and make the same changes anyone else would have made and then improve on it. Don't get me wrong peer reviews do work in some instances just not this one. From talking with a couple of other classmates I have found out that they feel the same way and that by doing the peer reviews we are all just wasting each others time.

2006-11-24T21:05:00.000-08:00

So this weeks blog and i am writing about a touchy subject so some might not want to read this but it is the truth things like this really happen and you can get offended all you want but then that shows a lack of maturity but basically readers beware.

My topic is about a part of my reasearch i am studying the different types of abuse, the one i am going to talk about is sexual abuse in children. It is becoming more and more of a problem not only in the united states but also the world. Child porn is like a virus sweeping through millions of countries and bringing about a disgusting addiction. You hear it alot on the news or radio men and women using the internet to pick up on young kids and teens for sex. You hear about child pron rings being broken up and then the most frustrating part is those who got caught justifying their actions. Im sorry you broke the law end of story but that isnt how it is, the blame game starts and never ends. This kind of crap makes me so mad that if i did swear this blog would be full of it.

An interesting conversation that i had a work about a week ago related to this topic we were all talking about movies we have seen and ones not to see one of these movies was 8mm this is a movie that should be avoided at all costs it is disturbing, yeah what goes on in this movie really happens but you can get educated a different way. Anyways we then got on the subject of a documentary or undercover operation they saw on T.v that they did in another country. It was a house with young girls ages six to twenty who were being exploited for the pleasures of sick men who could come in and pick what ever girl they wanted to have sex with, in my eyes it is nothing less than rape, these girls dont have a say they do as they are told end of story. I have also heard of countries where children are snatched in a blink of an eye and are sold into prostitution with little regard to the age or sex. There are people who go into other counrties and find girls and tell them that they want to bring them to the united states and make them models but in truth they are sold into whore houses where they are forced to have sex with men/women.

This stuff pisses me off where is the government what about the laws, ow i forgot they dont really have them and if they do they are recent laws that have just been made. I dont see enough being done to protect our future generations. This world has become so sex driven that one of the biggest things on the internet is porn sites they make billions each year with their disgusting vile crap. But this is the kind of world i get to raise my future kids in yeah for me. The days of roaming around and not having to really worry are over. But what can you do there is only so much you can do but i say why not try cause then maybe you can make a small diffrence to somebody even if its just one person. The world is going to heck. But im not going down with it.

2006-11-17T17:43:00.000-08:00

So i havent really dived into to much research for my paper 5. I am the biggest procrastinator so i will put it off till thanksgiving break because all of my friends are going out of town so i will have nothing to do that weekend it sucks but it will force me to do homework which is good. But anyways i am excited to be able to get different sources for my paper 5. I have read several articles in the past couple of months regarding child abuse. It is sad that there are that many stories because when i read these things i really want to kick some peoples butts.

I recently heard a story about a little eight years old boy who died because his mother tortured him to death by making beating him and according to police made him drink household cleaner. I read that and wanted to kill this mom but i thought about and realized that she will eventually pay for what she did and it just gives me more motivation to do something about it in the future so one day i will change it hopefully.

But anyways hopefully i will do a better job on paper 5 than i did on paper 4 but i hope to not put it off till the last possible second.

2006-11-10T14:35:00.000-08:00

This weeks blog is suppose to be our choice with something we have read or found intersting that is related to our topic. I am still trying to decide on a topic or question for paper 4 which is bad because it is friday and the paper is due monday hm ow well. Anyways something that i have read that is related to my topic that i might do my paper on is do we really listen to the kids in our society or do we just say we do to keep certain people off our backs.

I read part of an article that says that when kids call into an abuse hotline they are bombarded by questions about the aubse and then kind of brushed to the side. There was a story in the news awhile ago about a little boy who called 911 because his mom was dying the dispatcher didnt believe him and told him not to play on the phone. He called back and once again the dispatcher didnt believe him and wanted to talk to his mom but she was dying on the floor. In the end the mom ends up dying when she could of survived had she gotten help sooner, but she didnt because the dispatcher didnt believe the little boy who was like five or six. So now this little boy is left with out a mom because some dispatcher didnt believe him. This isnt exactly realted to abuse but it all goes back to adults not listening to kids.

I think that in todays society kids dont have a voice, they are looked upon as kids who dont know any better or are known to make up lies and crazy storys. Yes this does happen but they are kids alot of the time they follow their parents examples or act upon how they were raised. But anyways back to my point, of the fact that children do have a voice they can tell you what is wrong. But stupid adults think that the kids are lying or dont know any better or just have a vivid imagination. Adults also have this doubt factor where they cant fully believe a child because they are small. Well here is something funny that most people might have forgotten now that they are ow so smart adults, everyone was a kid once but yet we dont have to deal with the things that kids now a days have to deal with my childhood was carefree i was oblivious to anything in the world.

But here is another funny thing the older generations have made the world what it is today a rotten evil place where our kids have to try and survive and then ignore them i find that frustrating.

This journal is very random and all over the place but its what i was thinking and what came out of my head.

2006-10-27T13:43:00.000-07:00

This week we are suppose to write about things that we have found in our research for paper 4 well this is kind of hard for me since i have yet to begin doing research but i am starting right after i finish this blog. My topic for this paper is domestic violence. I chose this topic because i thought i could find some very interesting articles pertaining to the subject. I have also seen what domestic violence can do to a family and how it affects them. Thank goodness i have never had to expericence this first hand, i dont think i could handle it.

But anyways some of the questions i will be researching are; what brings about demestic violence where does it all begin. What things in the persons life have caused them to bring harm to a family member that they love. What are the statistics of abuse? Why is it mostly men who are the abusers? Why do women stay with abusive men and allow it to happen. What causes the abuse to escalate and sometimes end in fatalities? What is the government doing to help these women get away and to stay safe? What is the punishment for someone who commits these acts is it harsh enough?

These are all just random questions that i have about this subject, i am hoping to be able to answer them all and then narrow it down to just one question that can really get my the point im trying to make across. It is a growing problem i dont have to do research to know this i just have to turn on the news or read a newspaper and know that it is getting a little bit out of hand, and i dont see anything done to start stopping it. Are americans becoming a little bit to angry, it that is the case i am moving to a deserted island to live because i already cant stand angry people they arent fun to be around or have to deal with. It you are an angry person go to anger managment, get help nobody wants to deal with your attitude and issues, i sure dont.

I think that is why sports like football, wrestling, and boxing were invented you have an excuse to kick the crap out of someone and its all just apart of the game. That is why they made football and wrestling a mans sport is because they have more anger issues to deal with and they have to let it out somehow and it is just a convient way to let it all out.

2006-10-20T15:01:00.000-07:00

This journal is suppose to be about something that we may have read or had a question about that pertains to this class. I have decided to write about some recent disturbing articles i have read in the newspaper that have to do with domestic violence that turn fatal. I also think that it will be my research topic for paper four.

I read the newpaper everyday and everyday there is another article that talks about someone getting hurt or killed in a home environment. For all those who are unclear about what constitutes domestic violence i found this definition at dictionary.com it says "acts of violence against a person living in one's household, esp. a member of one's immediate family." I have witnessed or known someone who was a victim of this. My ex-boyfriends, friend was gunned downed at his own home by his brother. I had meet him a couple times and thought he was a decent guy and was floored to hear what had happened. He was shot several times and never had a chance. The papers said that his brother shot him becuase he thought he was going to kill an "unidentified female and sell her organs on the black market." their is other things that are the supposive cause but the fact of the matter is he killed his brother.

Just recently there was a story in the news about a man who shot his girlfriend and killed her in front of her two sons. There are hundreds of other storys but i cant mention all. But this kind of stuff makes me wonder what this world is coming to, incidents seem to becoming more frequent and more violent. Why would you want to harm someone you are suppose to love? I do not understand it at all and i dont think there is anyway to justify it either because there is no excuse to ever harm a family member or loved one. Why is it that these things happen in the first place what drives a person to that level where all rational thoughts are gone and violence emerges. I just cant comprehend it and it pisses me off. It is bad enough having to worry about things that are going on in the nation or the world but to come home to a place that is suppose to be safe and deal with violence there. It is ridiculous i could never harm my family or the people i care about it i would honestly rather kill myself than get to that point where i would hurt the people i love the most in this world.

All of this makes me wonder how de-humanized people are becoming and things can only get worse and they probably will and to me that is a scary thought.

2006-10-14T10:43:00.000-07:00

My scholarly article was about here your weight and level of fitness play a part in how attractive you are to others. The magazine article I found that I thought related some what is called "Dying to be thin." It is about girls and women who suffer from eating disorders. All of them are and were at a treatment facility that helped them beat their eating disorder. The magazine writers purpose was to give you a glimpse of how these women have dealt with and still deal with the desire to be thin.

The writer asks many questions. The biggest one is "why" what causes these women to starve themselves to the point where they could die. She also asks if the stars in Hollywood affect their views on what a healthy weight is. Do they influence these women in anyway and cause them to think that they are fat and have to go to extreme measures to look like them? She also asks the women what things in their lives led them to having eating disorders.

I think the purpose of this article is to do both things, provoke thought and questions. It makes you think about your own life, have you ever wanted to be thin and what action did you take to accomplish the weight loss. Did you become obsessed with loosing weight and you took on some symptoms of having a eating disorder. Did you realize what was happening at the time or were you oblivious to any signs that you were headed for trouble.

This particular article differed from the scholarly article, because this one gave you a quick glimpse into the lives of those who suffered and still do with eating disorders. The treatment they are and have gone through to overcome this disease. Where as the scholarly article was research about weight and fitness levels and how that related to how attractive you were found physically.

One thing that I did notice and thought was kind of interesting was the fact that the women who are an average weight and were active were found to be more attractive than the skinny girl. So why is there a big controversy about becoming thin, mostly seen in Hollywood. So if being an average weight and active is considered more attractive, why are all these celebraties basically killing themselves to become thin? To me that doesn't make sense.

The article affected me because I have struggled with this same thing to a certain degree. It really made me think about my own life and how I can avoid becoming obsessed with my weight again. It is all in your mind and is a constant battle with yourself to overcome negative thoughts about your body. This article portrays that really well, and I found it very interesting.

2006-09-29T12:36:00.000-07:00

My journal this week is on one of the articles we read for class reading and disscusion. It was the article titled, "As lite entertainment for bored college sturdents." It is related to this course, becuase we talked about it in class plus the article is about college students and i am a college student. With this article i agreed with certain parts and dissagreed with others.

This is all my opinion, so if you agree with me great, if not i would love to hear why. Starting school when i was younger was so exciting summer never passed fast enough. I was this way until about the fifth or sixth grade then the magic school held for me dissapeared. I started hating school it became boring and routine. This is how school has been for me since that time. I believe it is becuase teachers don't make class exciting, it is hard to find passion in a subject when the teacher does not have passion for the subject either. I found that the times i enjoyed a class was when a teacher was excited to be there and had a passion for the subject they taught. How can college students be expected to be passionate about their work and what they do when the teacher is lacking in that also.

The other side of that is in college the teachers who love what they do and that comes across in their teaching. College students interpret that as a hard teacher and wont take the class or drop it when they find out how hard the course will be. The students then find a teacher that is considered to be "easy" because the teacher personally dosent care enough about the subject to be a hard teacher.

The mentality of most college students is to get good grades to get into their program. They then get in and out of that program as fast as they can so they can start making money. Money is what drives society today. That is what colleges are after, that is why they focus on all the fun activities and events when they are looking at new students. I am trying to get through college as fast as i can becuase i pay for my own education and dont have money to spend extra years taking as many different classes as i can its just not possible. We also get through college fast because here in utah most everyone gets married young and starts families earlier. This isnt a bad thing but it gives us a reason to just be average and get by doing as little as possible. I know i want as much as an education as i can get before i eventually get married and start a family. I dont see any of this as a bad thing i always try my best and i feel like that is good enough in most situations.

2006-09-21T15:44:00.000-07:00

I read an article called "Single, Physically, Active, Female: The Effects of Information About Exercise Participation and Body Weight on Perceptions of Young Women." It was written by Kathleen A. Martin Ginis and Mark R. Leary. I choose this article because it has to do with body image (nutrition) and Psychology, how we percieve people of different sizes and exercise levels.

They did a study at a university with students, to see how they reacted to young women, who where underweight, average weight, and overweight. What their level of exercise was, whether it was exerciser, control or non-exerciser. How all that played apart in how physically and sexually attractive they would be and also if they would be scrawny or muscular. Another question was what would these girls attitudes would be like. Would their weight and level of exercise affect their personality would they be outgoing, shy, self-concious, confident, laid back or uptight. This is all based off of weight and exercise level.

They used a women for the expeirement because according to them women are looked at underneath a microscope and looked at more closely than men in todays society. They questioned the stereotypes given to women and what would put them in the categories of being ugly or good looking sexually attractive or sexually unattractive if they are scrawny or muscular.

They began the research by giving participants information about one female but changed her wieght and level of fitness and then asked them to rate her on a one to nine scale. So they put an underweight, average weight and overwieght girl underneath no exersice and how attractive they were physically and sexually. They also asked for what personality traits could be found in a girl who was underweight and a nonexerciser, was she more likely to be confident or afraid, all types of things that make people who they are.

They then took all this information and put in on charts to plot out the results. I found them very interesting to look at and it made me think about how true are these results. I came to the conclusion that they were pretty accurate. I think it shows how shallow society is these days. We have become infatuated with physical aapearnce, it determines most of the time how attractive we find someone. This kind of things affect everyone mentally because we feel that we have to look a certain way in order to even be attractive.

This article was really good i liked reading it they had alot of references and excerts form different articles or books about this subject or realating to it. I could tell they put alot into this study and writing the article. Sorry if it dosent make to much since in my writing i found it interesting but hard to explain and put into words. I dont think i did they article justice with my explination but i did the best i could.

2006-09-15T12:46:00.000-07:00

I want to go into several things, but almost all are in the catagory of behavioral science, with nutrition included. Scholars in this field I think have a basic and broad question. Why do we as humans do the things we do? Why do we act certain ways? It is all about asking questions about behaviors and then finding the answers through reasearch and observing humans.

The areas I want to get into are child psychology, social work, and then combining nutrition with psychology. Questions i want to tackle or address are; How much of a childs personality comes form observing parents? Are certain personality traits passed down through genes? How much of a childs environment really affects them growing up and how they will turn out? How can we better treat and acomidate kids who come from abusive homes or have been involved with a tradgedy.

Social work I would want to tackle one major question in my eyes. How much abuse and neglect do we let kids endure before the state or child services will get involved. How do we change the law so the punishment is harsher for parents who are abusive. Is foster care a solution or a problem? Could there be other alternatives other than foster homes? How can we get communities to care and get more involved with these kids who weren't given a choice.

Nutirition and psychology two completly seperate areas yet deal and relate very closely together. How does overeating affect our mental processes. What foods affect our moods the most. What brings on eating disorders? Is it a chemical embalance, or the mentality of those affected by it. Can we become healthier by understanding how foods can affect our mental process. How does lonliness, happiness, stress affect our food choices.

As you can see I am interested in many areas and parts of behavioral science, but i am very passionate about these areas and want to change alot of things and find answers to the problems. I am so invested because i have seen first hand what abuse and neglect can do to a child and how the state faliled these kids just as much as the parents failed. Kids are the victims but how much do we invest in helping them to get past everything they have had to deal with from a young age, not very much in my opinion.

2006-09-08T14:41:00.000-07:00

I love to sleep. So anything that keeps me awake at night is a problem. There has always been the same one thing that that has kept me up at night since i was in my early teens until now. This is a very personal and sensitive subject for me. I am not proud of this but it is apart of my life and something i deal with daily.

I have had and continue to have problems with having eating disorders. I grew up having skinny sisters, I was the heavier one, always wishing I could be skinny too. I was 14 when it started. I would look in the mirror and all i saw was fat and lots of it. I started dieting constantly and an obssesion with food began. When dieting wasn't working for me, I came to the conclusion in my mind that the only way i would get what i wanted was to not eat at all. Starvation was the key. When i would eat i would get depressed, feeling fat and hating myself for giving in. I began throwing up the food i did eat, or ate to please my parents so they wouldn't ask questions. Because of my low self esteem and always being self-concious i was always shy. I flet that if someone got to know me well they would find out and i didnt want to share this fight i was facing with anyone.

In most health classes you learn about anorexia and bulimia how they are bad for you and can eventually kill you. You also learn what the personality can be of someone who suffers from an eating disorder. I would read this and say this isn't me so i don't have an eating disorder. I would get to a certain point and feel satisfied with myself so i would begin eating again. I was still picky with what i ate but at least i was eating. Most of you know with eating disorders the person never becomes satisfied with themselves so it continues till medical help is needed. Since i wasn't like that i felt i had no problem. This is how i have justified myself into thinking i'm ok. I was fine for awhile, i didnt worry about food so i thought i was over it, i was wrong.

After high school I had never felt so fat. Almost automatically my mind went into the mode of, its time to starve yourself agian. My obsession with food became more severe. Exercise also became an obsession. I would go to the gym everyday for one to two hours a day while eating very little if anything at all. I knew the cycle i thought was over was coming back but i couldn't stop. If i didn't exercise one day i would feel so lazy and then i would become depressed and turn to food, which would lead to more depression. It's funny cause i never got to what i thought was really skinny. I wasn't eating but in my eyes i was still fat.

Some might say i don't really have an eating disorder cause i don't fit the mold. I can't change that but i have come to the relization that i had a problem and still continue to fight with myself about eating. I lay awake at night wondering if i ate to much that day and how i can balance all the calories out. I am terrified of becoming fat. Gaining even two pounds is terrifiying for me because when i start feeling fat or out of control it could all come back. And that thought scares me. I wonder will i struggle with this for the rest of my life? What will happen when i eventually become pregnant and begin gaining weight how will i handle it? What do people think about me when they do find out. It's not something i tell everyone until now but im finally comfortable admitting that i did have an eating disorder and i am still working on getting past it.

I haven't come up with any solution because i feel it is a personal battle and that no one can help me get past it but myself. And as long as it dosent get out of control again than i feel i will be fine. Maybe that is my problem. I only count on myself to get past this. But who knows

2006-09-06T15:26:00.000-07:00

I went to lagoon a couple weeks ago, for those of you who don't know it is a amusment park up in farmington. As me and my family entered the park i couldn't help but notice the atire of the women there. It was more skin than clothes. Bikinis, short shorts, and little tops that barely covered certain areas. The funny thing is I use to wear the same kinds of things not to long ago, so why did it bother me so much now. I started thinking and wondering alot of different things at this point. How comfortable are these women? Most of the rides are jerky and send you flipping in all sorts of directions. So does the concern arise that they might just fall out and expose themselves. Are they constantly tugging at their clothes to keep themselves covered. So because of this are they really enjoying themselves. I know from personal expierince that when i had something on that was tight or revealing i was constanly tugging and worrying about my clothes so i never really had fun and just relaxed. Why do women wear outfits like that? I hear alot of women complain about not being able to find decent guys to date and hang out with. Maybe there is a connection there. Its hot out so it could be a way to keep cool. But is there a line that is being crossed by wearing hardly anything? Is it attention that is being craved? I use to wear stuff like that for attention but it goes back to not finding decent guys to date right, because aren't you saying from the get go i don't really respect myself enough to cover up. Could that be why alot of men look at women as objects and pieces of meat. Lagoon is filled with hundreds of little impressionable kids. What are they taking from all these girls and women wearing very little? Are little girls thinking i want to dress like that and be cute too? What about the little boys they will grow up thinking that for a girl to be cute she has to dress like that? Will they grow up to respect women? Should restrictions and a dress code be put in place? Should the environment be taken into consideration, where its not a beach so clothes need to be worn. Could the park even do this if they wanted to without stepping on the rights of others. Everyone has a right to wear what they want but do they consider others people's feelings, that they might not appriciate the atire. What message is being sent to others around them who observe them and their dress? All of these things were thoughts and questions that came to my head. I feel kind of like a hypocrite for writing about revealing dress because i use to dress like that to but i see both sides and now i even question why i dressed like that. But you grow and learn.

p.s. i dont mean to offend anyone who may dress a certain way this is just my perspective on this like i said everyone can dress the way they want.