Junior Theme Part 3

On tuesday of last week I turned in my Junior Theme final draft and it felt great. All the hard work had finally come to an end. I felt very proud because this was the biggest paper I have had to write so far in high school.

I learned a lot throughout the whole writing/editing process. The peer editing day helped me realize the value in letting others criticize your work. I thought my rough draft was fine and there wasn’t much to change, but the peer edit quickly helped me realize I was wrong. My partner Colin showed me some passages that weren’t very fluid and could use some word changes. He also showed me places where he was confused with the point I was trying to make. I was able to expand in areas that were a bit under explained once I saw where these areas where. I learned that letting a peer look at your work will have a positive impact on the quality of the work.

I also learned that it is important to stay open minded and not put too much prind into my work until it is finished. What I mean by this that It isn’t good to hold onto ideas that won’t help. For the first three weeks of the research process I was determined on including a section in my  paper about the way in which we eat our food as an example of change in the American diet. I had come up with this idea completely by myself and I really wanted to include it in the paper. I started doing research on this topic and couldn’t find much. After three days I should have just given up and looked for a different subtopic, but I kept looking. And looking. And looking. I wasted so much time searching for something that just wasn’t there, and I couldn’t let go of the pride in my idea. I learned that I need to be able to realize what is good in my writing, and not blind myself with what I want to be good.

The Junior Theme paper was a great experience for me. I believe I became a smarter and better overall writer because of it. I am looking forward to getting my final draft back so that I can make the appropriate edits and improve my work.

Junior Theme Part 2

My topic has not changed since my last post, but my view of it definitely has. I’ve learned a tremendous amount about the American meal as I have researched it. My Why question I will be answering in the paper is “Why does the American meal look the way it does?” To answer this question, I will be diving into 4 different sections.

1. The way we eat

This is referring to how we eat our food. Over the years, this has changed. In my introductory paragraph I reference a statistic about the percentage of meals eaten outside the home. The number grew from 2% in 1900 to %0% in 2010. This plays a large role in our diet.

2. Changes in industry

This section is about how the way food is made is completely different. The amount of GMOs in food is one of the big topics in this section. Food today is much more highly processed than it was just 20 years ago. Industry and technology have completely changed what our food is made of

3. Social changes

As society changes, so does the manner in which we eat. The family plays a big part in deciding how one eats. With the traditional family intact, there are more at home meals with everyone present and more organization. Where the family is scattered, meals are quicker and less important.

4. Public policy

The government makes many policies and laws that affect what we eat in ways that we don’t see. This can range from price floors to school lunches. The government has great influence over our diets.

I am excited to continue my research and begin the writing process of the body paragraphs. I will keep you updated with my progress.

Junior Theme Part 1

This week in American Studies has been completely focused on kick starting our Junior Theme papers. I have dreaded the thought of this assignment since I was in 8th grade when my brother did his. Now it is my time to write this monster of a paper.

I started the week browsing around for topics and has a list of 5 possible directions to send my paper in. They were abortion, gun control, minimum wage, laziness and technology, and nutrition labels. I am a very passionate advocate for the pro-life view on abortion, and thought that this would make a fantastic topic to write my junior theme on.

I did a good amount of research to get arguments from both sides on the issue of abortion and thought that there was no possibility of doing any other topic. Mr. O’Connor then shut that topic down because of how difficult it would be to make the paper NOT an argument for my side, and instead a more balanced and historical look at abortion.

I had no idea what to do from here because I had banked so much into the abortion topic. I later met with Mr. Bolos to discuss ideas with him. I had written “nutrition labels” basically just to have a 5th topic so it looked like I was working harder. Bolos saw this and explained to me some unknown details about the food industry that really fascinated me. He showed me a book called The Omnivore’s Dilemma by Michael Pollan, which goes into an in depth analysis of the food industry and how it works.

Right now I am thinking that my paper will be based around the question, “Why does the American diet look the way it does?”. I’m guessing this will change, and will keep posting blogs as my topic takes different forms.

Why do You Stand?

It is not often that you hear an elite level athlete make a statement about society that angers many people. Statements that athletes make are normally minimal and not detailed, so that there will not be too much controversy attached to their name. Kobe Bryant did just this recently, calling out black America, specifically the Miami Heat, for collectively taking one side in the Trayvon Martin case.

Bryant said about the situation, “I won’t react to something just because I’m supposed to, because I’m an African-American. That argument doesn’t make any sense to me. So we want to advance as a society and a culture, but, say, if something happens to an African-American we immediately come to his defense? Yet you want to talk about how far we’ve progressed as a society? Well… then don’t jump to somebody’s defense just because they’re African-American. You sit and you listen to the facts just like you would in any other situation, right?”

Bryant’s words carry a lot of truth. He says that his reason for doing things will not be because his fellow African-Americans do it. That would just create more stereotypes and be counterintuitive to any anti-racism movement. Bryant says that people need to defend others based on evidence, not based on skin color.

I am not here to take a side on the whole Trayvon Martin case. Obviously I think it is horrible that someone died. I do happen to agree with Kobe, because his words are so insightful. I see people all around me in my life make decisions and take stances without actually looking at evidence, and instead going with the crowd. This lesson that Bryant gives transcends the world of racism and can be applied to many different things. Some people hold political views without doing any research as to what exactly they believe and why they believe it. Instead, they let other people think for them, like the media. If you take a stance on an issue, make sure you are taking the stance intelligently, and not just going with the flow.

Read more here.

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