Blog #1- Topic Discussion

Self-Image
I find self-image a interesting problem because it effects people everywhere. A lot of people don't give the issue of self-image a second though and don't find it a problem unless they are the ones with the low self-esteem. Most teens will look at themselves in the mirror in the morning and see and think of all the "flaws" they have and want to change. Our society paints a very unrealistic definition of beauty. If we don't fall into that definition we don't find ourselves beautiful. Not only does the media play a big role in self-image but also family members, peers, and even the sports you play can have a big effect.

Your self-image is closely linked to your self-esteem. Bad self-image, bad self-esteem. Self-image not just causes you to think bad of yourself but can also lead to more serious things like eating disorders, obesity, or even the way you behave with/around people. Many girls and boys will do anything to be able to fit in a consider themselves beautiful.

I would love to raise awareness about self-image. Just getting people to understand that beauty comes in all shapes and sizes. You don't need to look like the people on TV to be beautiful. I would talk to people about the problems that can arise from a bad self-esteem, the concept of self-peace, and i would have people try to come out and think of at least one thing that they like about themselves. Have each person point out for themselves the things they find beautiful. We all need to start loving our bodies!

Overeating
An eating disorder is usually thought of as anorexia, or bulimia something associated with skinny people. Skinny is not the only eating disorder, overeating is too.  Overeating occurs when people are feeling stressed, mad, or upset. Overeating is also used to fill a void in someones life. Over eaters eat and excessive amount a lot. This can cause for obesity.

Overeating is very relevant today. But i feel it is an issue that can be prevented. If there was more out in the media about exercise and healthy foods instead of all the fast food commercials people might be more likely to try. Also presentations about the risk of overeating, just getting people educated on the matter might also help to prevent it. Its not hard to be healthy... some people just need a little more help!

Bullying
Bullying is everywhere! No matter where you go i'm sure you will find some kind of bullying out in this world, especially bad in schools. Kids, even parents, can be so cruel to one another. Bullying can lead to so many things and so many different problems. Eating disorders, self-image problems, behavioral problems, even the big problem of suicide. Bullying has always been a problem that many people focus on but still there is so much of it going on in the world. I feel people need to be even more educated on what can happen to someone who is bullied or even the person who is doing the bullying could help.

Blog #6 - Persuasive Essay Brainstorming

When we were assigned this paper I could not for the life of me come up with a topic that I wanted to write about that I haven't wrote about in past persuasive essay. The more research I did to find a topic the more I found and wanted to do. The three that I'm stuck between to write about are; animal testing, children and anti psychotic drugs, and veterans homelessness/veterans services.

Animal testing- My opinion on this topic is animal testing is bad and there shouldn't be any circumstances where it would be acceptable. Places are testing cosmetics, medicines, and other experimental things on animals and killing them because of it. There are people out in the world who volunteer themselves for experimental testing; so why use helpless animals who cant have a say in it. There are people out in the world who look at everything they buy to make sure it says not tested on animals before they buy it, so in those cases the things that are tested on animals are juts losing out on money they could have made not testing it on an animal.

Children and anti psychotic drugs- My opinion on this topic is there are only some cases that a child should be put on anti psychotics. If a child could be dangerous to them self or the people around them then yes anti psychotics could be a good thing. But otherwise a child who grows up on these drugs is most likely to be dependant on them the rest of there life. A lot of the time children act significantly different as a child than they do when they start getting older.

Veterans homelessness/veterans services- My opinion on this topic is when veterans come home they should have help with living arrangements, psychological help, and all and all getting back on their feet. Most people are all for helping the soldiers out and honoring them while they are out fighting but the minute they are done people don’t care or give them a second thought. Some of the homeless people you see sitting on the side of the road needing help are veterans.. people who went out and risked there lives for us and our country come back to nothing and being nothing. A lot of the veterans also have psychological problems when they come back from war and they don’t have the money to pay to get help with that so they have to suffer through the nightmares at night, and flinching every time they hear a loud noise.  

Blog #5 Informative Essay Brainstorming

I really only have one idea for this paper. I want to write about Forensic Psychology. I want to write about this because this is what i want to do in the future, and has been what i wanted to do since early middle school. I also think it would be a good thing to write about because everyone knows what a psychologist is but not a lot know what a forensic psychologist is.

In my paper I will talk about what exactly it is and what they do. How its different then a regular psychologist. What kinda places as a forensic psychologist you work at. Not very sure what all I wanna talk about with it. But ill figure it out while I write my paper.

Blog #4 Hamburger Pie

Hamburger pie is a very simple and fast meal to make. If using real potatoes you should first peal, cut, and start to boil. First you take a pound for hamburger and brown it up, When that is done if you are using instant potatoes you should put them on the oven around the time you finish browning the meat. After the meat is all cooked you pour in a can of tomato paste. Mix that all together in the pan keeping it on the burner and let the past warm up. Once the paste is a little warm you put in a can of greenbeans. Mix that all together and let the greenbeans warm up. Dont forget about the potatoes! Once the potatoes are cooked and mashed and the meat mixture is all done. From there you can dish it up and enjoy, but I always put the meat in the bottom of a cake pan, then put the mashed potatoes over that. Let it set up then serve. Putting it in a cake pan is optional just makes it easier for storage.
Enjoy!:)

Blog #3 Pre-Writing for Personal Narrative Essay

We started talking about personal narratives and the essay we will have to be writing. All weekend I have been trying to figure out what i have done in my life/what has happened so far that would qualify and pass the "So What" test. The more I thought about it I realized there isn't many choices for this seeing how a lot of things in my life are things i haven't yet wanted to share with anyone.

My first idea is moving to Illinois. Really doesn't sound like a very exciting topic i know. I wasn't very excited when I was told we were moving to Illinois, and having to pack up the house and leave in 2 days. But now i realized it was a good thing it happened. Moving down here made me a lot closer and get to know my family a lot better. Being closer to my family I have learned a lot about myself that I didn't know before. This was a big event on me and my sisters life so this is when we finally grew up and started acting like sisters. There was a few bad things that happened with this to that i guess explain somewhat why i am the way i am about certain issues. There isn't much to say about this topic right now, until/if I start writing it.

My other idea is writing about my great grandpa. He has always had a huge impact on my life. After he died is when I started to be more of who I am now.. good and bad. This was also the time I completely broke away from my family. Losing him wasn't fair and i didn't want my family to see how much i was hurting. This also made me realize that I need to stop taking things for granted and that i needed to stop and realize what I have in life.

The second choice is more personal for me then the moving one, but I'm not sure which one to write about.. Neither one of them are really story stories, nor really sure if they could pass the "So What" test. Not very much to chose from from my life. Very indecisive right now.

Blog #2 Personal Writing- Summer Experience

This summer I rode a horse for the first time ever. I was staying at my aunts house one weekend, the last weekend of summer, and me and my aunt were trying to figure out what to do for my little cousins birthday coming up in a few days. Her favorite animal is a horse so we decided to take her out on a horse back ride.

My other aunt has here house out on all this farm land where she has 10 horses that just rome around out in the fields. We all got ready and pack into the car; my three little cousins, my aunt, and I. When we got out the house my aunts when out into the field to try and get the 3 horses she wanted us to ride. Once they brought them up to the barn we had to brush them, and saddle them up.

My horse was named Cody. I wasn't to excited about being around all of these horses because they terrify me quite a lot ever since i was a little kid. But they made me pet the horse and brush him, so that i could see they weren't very scary animals. Finally after getting them all ready they made me get on the horse, by this time climbing up on it I feel like my heart could break out of my chest it was beating so fast. Once i was up there i was so scared to move i probably looked like a statue! They explained to me how to make the horse stop, turn, and get going.

After explaining everything to me they hoped on theirs and started going. Right from the beginning I tried to make the horse go and turn they way i wanted him to, but he kept turning the other way. After a little bit we stared out on our journey. All of us lined up and having a good ride, when all the sudden my little cousins horse turns around a starts running back to the barn. After a few feet my little cousin goes tumbling off her horse onto the ground. She jumps up yells to us that shes okay then falls back down when she feels the pain. One of my aunts jumps off her horse and runs to my little cousin to make sure she is fine. Her falling off didn't help my fear the horses at all.

My uncle comes speeding down in the truck to where we are to make sure everything is fine so the two of them get in the truck while me and my other aunt ride the horses back to the house. The whole way back to the house my aunt was telling me that the horse i was on always liked to run back to the barn. She was only saying it to scare but it sure did work! Finally when we get back i honestly wasn't as scared of them am i was to start out. It was a good day!

Blog #1 Abilities as a Writer

As a writer, I tend to push of my writings just because i can never think of ways to start them or what to say. When it comes to writing I take them seriously and all but my words don't come out as good on paper as they do in my head that's why i push them off. Rambling within a paper would have to be something i do a lot, but because of it i can always meet the length assigned. I also tend to repeat things i say within the paper too. The only writing i do is when i have to for school mostly but when it comes to writing on my own it usually doesn't happen. I would like to be able to get my words out onto paper with the way they sound in my head. Also working on my grammer when writing. When i work on a paper the majority of my focus is on the length and the words not the grammer. All in all writing is not a strong suit of mine.

Going into English 101 and English 102 so sudden from a normal English class kinda freaks me out. When I know my writing skills aren't the best they could be and we have so many papers to write this semester its a little overwhelming. I'm hoping that this year helps me out with finaling getting certain grammer rules stuck into my head, and helping get words out of my head a little easier. Besides those to things I'm pretty confident in my writing.