Shattered Glass

1. In the movie "Shattered Glass" there are several distinct steps that are incorporated into the overall data process. First, all the writers sit and discuss a topic that he/she would like to elaborate on. Next, the writer goes out and finds information by interviewing people to get the information. Next the information is fact checked and then published.

2. The character in the movie, Stephen Glass, is known for his quirky pieces that grabs everyone attention. He discusses conventions and hackers and always makes a great publication with his information. He takes notes and listens to what the people around him are saying and doing. He then forms these great pieces of literature with this factual information...or so everyone thought.

3. I think the ethical issue discussed in this paper is the validity of the information being published. Everyone knew he was a great writer and that he had a knack for finding these outlandish stories. Rather he fabricated the information and mislead his readers, coworkers, and himself.

My first draft

After receiving back each part of my research paper, I go back and look at what my teacher said and correct or write more to enhance the piece.I also have other people look over my writing because they will tell me when something doesn't make sense or I didn't explain an idea enough. I go one by one, each part of the overall paper and fix mistakes and add or delete information.

Lamott's Draft

I find it interesting that she deems the first draft "shitty". I think she has great wit and incorporates it well into her pieces. Lamott discusses that the first draft is the "down draft", just putting everything down on paper. The second draft is the "up draft" where you fix it up. Finally the third draft is the "dental draft", where you read the piece in depth in search of any mistakes, confusing sentences, or areas that do no go hand in hand with the paragraph above. Lamott states that all good writers write first drafts and this is the beginning of a beautifully articulated piece of literature. As a writer she indicated that you can't just jump into a paper and expect it to be great. A writer has ti sit down get everything out and then slowly dwindle out any sentences or words that do not compliment the piece. This is where the basis of the paper begins. Once a writer has gotten by this first stage then he/she will be able to write a compelling piece of literature.

"Covering"

I would have to say I probably cover the fact that I am much more outgoing then what most people assume. I am really quiet until someone gets to know me. I think this is because I am an only child and have always been around my family and they know how outgoing I am. In certain settings I am afraid to reveal that I am real outgoing because I am afraid of what some people may think.

APA style practice

1) Studies now indicate that the rat bladder tumors arise from mechanisms that are not relevant to the human situation.

2)The author of this article stated, " Studies now indicate that the rat bladder tumors arise from mechanisms that are not relevant to the human situation" (Olden, n.p.).
3)"Over the years, our knowledge of cancer causing agents has been refinded;allowing to make clear more concise differences"

Activity 33

I think that one of the most important childhood events of mine would have to be my first day of kindergarten. I was a ball of excitement rapped in nerves that day. I was so worried about making new friends and being away from my family all day. During the bus ride, I began to feel even more nervous, but then the girl who was sitting beside me started talking to me and we both began to relax. Finally, I arrived at school and was ready to begin this journey. Half way through the day my class was dismissed for recess the boys stayed with the boys and the girls stayed with the other girls. I remember we were all so shy around each other and didn't know what to say. Some of the kids knew each other from church and pre-school, but others didn't know anybody. During recess all of that changed. We all started playing on the swing sets, playing hop scotch, and jumping rope. The shyness between everyone had ceased. By the end of the first day of school friendships had been formed that would last for many years to come.This was so important because these were the people who we would be surrounded by for the next 11 years of our lives. We as little kids had to open ourselves up to others and step out of our boundaries.Today the same girl that sat beside me on the bus is still one of my best friends. I think it is amazing that 12 years later we have held on to such a great friendship. Over the years the group of kids that we be the class of 2008 learned together, played together, and formed bonds that would last a lifetime.

I used 7 I's in my writing. I think that a reader is able to understand that it come's from a person's point of view that has experienced this childhood event. I think it is personal because I used certain detailed events that occured.

I-Search

During the second week of classes, my one nursing professor showed our class a video depicting racial disparities and the nurse's role as an advocate. I thought it would be a great topic to digress on by doing research and discovering interventions that can be used to cease the racial gaps, in particular by nurses. This particular research is important to me because it is part of society that we have been facing for years and it still surprises me that such racial inequality still exists. Also it is something that I as a future nurse will have to face everyday. I found a variety of sources, many being scholarly articles. My views haven't necessarily changed after doing the research; it is more that my awareness of the problem has dramatically increased. I am using several resources including, surveys and interviews to gain a better insight on what people think about this topic and why they think it is still occurring at such a high rate. I am interviewing 4 people 1 who is my nursing professor and 3-4 other nursing students and also sending several surveys out to my other nursing peers. Researching this topic has opened my eyes to a whole new aspect of inequality. I never realized how prevalent racial disparities in the healthcare field were. Along with the research I have also discovered many interventions that would allow for the problem to decrease, such as providing translation services to patients and also making the nurses aware of his/her own prejudices.

paraphrasing

Many final research papers, written by students, have an abundance of direct quotes. The quotes can easily drown out the students own voice and can take away from the student's credibility. Students should aim to keep quotations to a minimum and overall, only 10% of the final paper should contain direct quotations (Lester, 1976).

In class blogging: Conclusion of "The Tipping Point"

To me personally, racial equality is a huge social change that I would like to see in my community. My research project is about the the racial disparities in today's healthcare. In today's society it is unbelievable the amount of lawsuits that are being filed in regards to patients that say that they received unequal care in a hospital, family practice, or health center settings by health care employees including nurses and doctors. I think that having open discussions that include people's individual thoughts and ideas would be the first step in gaining an understanding of why racial inequality still exists. These discussions should include people other then causcasions The chapter that I found to be the most interesting was chapter 2 when the idea of mavens, connectors, and salesman were discussed. Gladwell's examples gave great insight into how each type really pushes the success of social epidemics. I learned there is a lot more involved in epidemics then what I originally assumed. Each of the three in "Law of the Few" has to be touched upon in order to begin and successfully continue a social epidemic. The idea that really interested me was the subway cleanup. Gladwell explained how letting people paint the cars with graffiti and then having people paint over them was extremely beneficial in regards to stopping the vandalism. If a person wants to stop a negative act, he or she pretty much has the resources at hand. I believe that very simple acts can clean up and better the lives of people.

Chapter 3 Discussion Questions

1. Bernie Goetz is man who resided in New York City. It started off as an ordinary day as he entered the the station. He sat by a group of African American youths who were said to be "rowdy" and "horsing around" according to other passengers on the train. The boys struck up a conversation with Goetz and shorty after one of the boys gestured to his pocket as if stating he had a gun. Then the boy told Goetz to give him five dollars. In turn Goetz pulled out the gun and shot at each of the four boys. One youth, Darrell Cabey, who had already been shot once by Goetz, layed there yelling so Goetz shot him again, this time paralyzing him. It is horrifying to even think that people view Goetz as a hero. He had a gun, for which a reason has not been given, with him. Why did he need it? I believe that if Goetz truly believed that the boys would try to hurt him, then he should have never took a seat so close to them. He put himself in a dangerous position, no one else. The only reason that people view Goetz as some type of hero is because the four boys each ended up have a record for various crimes. However, to shoot them is not bringing justice. What he did was a selfish, ignorant, and completely immoral. In the chapter, Gladwell discusses the fact that Goetz's father was a harsh man who often targeted his anger at Goetz. On page 149, Gladwell states a quoted from Lillian Rubin, Goetz's biographer, " Goetz's bullets were aimed at targets that existed as much in his past as in the present". So even though Goetz seemed like an ordinary man the other people on the train made a human error that day. Gladwell states on page 160, human beings make the mistake of overestimating the importance of fundamental character traits and underestimate the importance of the situation and the context". So in my eyes Goetz is a murderer he entered the train that day knowing he was going to put himself in a position that would cause something bad to happen.


5. In my personal opinion, I am not sure whether or not changing the conditions in a prison will lead to better inmate behavior. People always say that you can help a person get better, but you can never truly change who they are and who they have always been. Changing conditions in prisons may lead to better attitudes, however the prisoners are in prison for a reason and whatever the reason is, it is bad. The prisoners are already flawed in some way. They commited a crime that was obviously bad enough to land themselved a jail cell. I think a lot of research would have to be done to truly see what exact conditions would be changed. In Zimbardo's research good people with no criminal record changed dramtically. However, the people that are in prison have a criminal record and have commited crimes that affect the human population. That needs to be taken into account.

Slave Trade: Traces of the Trade ,Stories from the Deep North

Tonight I attended a film discussing the slave trade. The story was told by Katrina Brown who wanted to explore her ancestors role the slave trade. Her ancestors are part of the DeWolf family. She contacted 200 ancestors o the DeWolfs and received 60 replies. In total 9 ancestors that ranged from siblings to 7th cousins embarked on a journey beginning in Bristol, Rhode Island to Ghana and finally Havana, Cuba. The DeWolfs were said to be the 2nd richest family at one time. They were involved in the trade of 10,000 Africans. They traded rum, sugar, tobacco, bread and many other items for African Slaves. Beginning in Rhode Island they traveled the town seeking information about the DeWolf family who were considered to be hero abolitionists and founding patriots. Historians told the family that throughout New England all the stone walls were constructed by African Slaves and that there are so man stone walls that if connected "could reach farther then the moon". When they visited Cape Coast, Ghana they were informed by Kofi Anyidoho, a revered poet, that there were 70 slave ports and that there were 5 rooms 15 feet by 30 feet that held 1,000 African Slaves. The family was able to visit these places and stand where there ancestors stood. They were overcome by emotions such as sadness, disbelief and guilt. While in Ghana they attended a worship ceremony and felt like outsiders. When one of the family members tried to shake hands with a woman she refused which made the white man feel like he was trespassing on sacred ground. After this the family sent up a meeting in a local town hall with other Africans they had met at the ceremony to hear their views on white people and what can be done to bring the two races together. The most common response was that white people need to attend African American events and such in order to break down the barrier. Next they traveled to Havana, Cuba where they visited several DeWolf plantations. Upon there return to the United States the family had a dinner and discussed their feeling in regards to the trip and their ancestors. While some felt pure guilt others felt as if they weren't there at that time so they really didn't feel guilty. However, overall this trip changed each person in some way or another. One family member stated, "we need to gain the courage to face what divides us". This film was truly interesting. It was interesting to watch a family aware that their ancestors played a part in slave trade, go on journey intended to reveal the ugly truth of their ancestors.

Have you heard from Johannesburg?

Last night I attended the African American Cultural Center's presentation of "Have you heard from Johannesburg?" This film is about the the apartheid in South Africa and the role the United States government played in it. It took many years for the government to realize that sanctions have to be put in place in order to end the apartheid. At the time Ronald Regan was in office and he was adamantly against sanctions. He believed that by placing sanctions the people we were trying to help would just get hurt by them. Therefore several groups were formed primarily by the African American population in the U.S. One group specifically,TransAfrica America worked endlessly trying to gain the governments support to place sanctions. They did this by picketing in front of the South Africa Embassy. After a few days of this the police started making arrests which grabbed the attention of the media, which inevitably spread the word. This also grabbed the attention of some celebrities such as Stevie Wonder and Rosa Parks. Both were arrested when they participated in the picketing. The picketing lasted for 2 years, the longest in American history. After several years the members of TransAfrica America finally got into the White House. On several occasions they proposed bills that were directed to companies and colleges that called for divestment. Stanford and Columbia University's both had investments in South Africa. The students of these colleges set up protests and risked their grades and assignments to stand up for South Africa. Eventually Stanford and then Columbia divested resulting in millions of dollars staying in the U.S. Motorola Inc. also divested under pressure from consumers. In October of 1986 the Congress by a 2/3 vote signed the bill into action. This the blocked the billions of dollars in taxes that the U.S. government paid to the South African apartheid regime.
I thought that the presentation was great and really expanded my knowledge base.

English Conference

Session 1: "A Research Identity: Four Fictional Females"
The first presenter Megan Marshall discussed the character, Seely in The Color Purple. Megan discussed the effects that trauma has on the character. She also discussed the sexual abuse that Seely had to experience and how it changed her. During her reading she also stated things that she could have done better in her paper. She listed several things. One which was making her paper more cohesive. She wanted to figure out how to combine the information that she received while researching and her own ideas and opinions without overwhelming the paper with her own views. The second presenter Julia McEvoy researched the symbolism of the Rose in Beauty and the Beast. She also researched the meaning it had to the main character. Julia stated that she had difficulty find good research tools gain knowledge and the rose. She stated that she thought it was harder to find reliable information about the stories because the fairy tale is so old. Everything she read stated that the rose symbolized sex. However, Julia believes something different. She believes that there are layers to a rose. The layers being beauty, love, sex, death. She also researched the effect that the rose has on family and marriage. Julia also discussed the ways that she could better her paper. Her main problem with her paper, from her perspective, were her transitions from paragraph to paragraph. The third reader, Sarah Daxton, discussed Kate Chopen and her novel The Awakening". Sarah reflected on the various ways that Edna defied the common myth that women were to not be independent during that time period. At the end of the story Edna commits suicide and Sarah decided to explore the reasons behind it. One reason is depression which may have been caused by her environment and the pressures of society. Sarah said that one of the main things that helped her write a successful paper was peer editing. She said even though a lot of students are afraid to let their peers read their paper it opens the door to so many more ideas. The last reader, Aaron Marshall, wrote a paper on Hal's Moving Castle. He wrote about how outer beauty was not important in this story, but rather her personality. He then talked about how time management was so vital in writing this paper. He also talked about the excessive amount of research he had and had to cut out to main ideas in order to meet the papers length requirement. He recommended that when writing the paper try to narrow it down to one main idea and focus on that.

Session 2
The first reader Kara Arndt presented a paper on the women of Desperate Housewives. She gave various depictions of American women from 1950s compared to the women of the TV show. She argued that the show still labeled the women as the typical stay at home mom, everything is perfect type of woman. One woman from the show however stood out from the crowd. Lynette is strong willed, she has misbehaved children, and eventually goes back to work. Her husband once told her in the episode "Come in Stranger", that you are the perfect mother because you aren't perfect. The second reader, Erica Ritenour, talked about Fan-Fiction. For about the past 8 years she has been writing and blogging based on Pirate Jack Sparrow. It helped her to develop her writing skills and she was able to express her views and gain valuable feedback. Other fan fiction writers served as "baitors". You would send your blog to another person (a.k.a baitor) and he/she would revise the paper and give feedback. This not only helped in submitting a good blog, but also allowed to Erica to gain experience in peer editing. It was then when she realized the importance of it. She also talked about how she want to major in music-education, but did not get accepted and that's when she knew and English-education major was the right choice for her. The third reader, Cindy Brown, discussed the poem "Blackberry Picking". The poem is about the secret desires of women and as the develop they become harder to resist. Cindy stated the quote, "whether it is a fruit or a woman it is hard to desire". She also said that the author talks about living in the moment before you rot. This is in regards to the fruit and before a woman ages. At the end of paper she said it felt disheartening to read that the woman's desires have been met. This meaning that a woman is needy
Throughout these three stories there was a clear idea that somewhere in each of these stories the idea of desire was being represented.

Stickiness Factor

1. Non-beneficial messages such as alcohol and cigarette advertisements are not beneficial to society, yet they have a "stickiness factor". For example, I have received coupons in the mail for various cigarette companies that try to influence the person.

4. For younger children, who have not yet entered school, television programs such as Sesame Street and Blues Clues offer a better educational opportunity then books. At such a young age children are unable to read books, so they are able to actively participate with television shows. This allows the children to gain prior knowledge before entering the education system. Since parents work there are more TV shows on during the day, therefore allowing more opportunities for learning because parents don't always have time to offer a wide variety of books.

Kaitlyn Keller, Cathy Maust

Reflective Writing

In chapter 2, Gladwell discusses the idea of the "Law of the Few". The main points discussed are the idea that people can be "connectors", "mavens", or "salesman". In my point of view I thought the most interesting point of the chapter was when Gladwell discussed the concept of people being "connectors". This made me think of several of my friends, who when they turn the corner, they instantly see someone they know. This is even more shocking to me because I come from a small town therefore everyone knows everyone else. However, the people that my friends know are not from our town. So it just amazes me how many people, one person can know. Word of mouth is an example of connectors and they acquire so many acquaintances and how ideas are spread around.So when people say it is a small world, it truly is. Gladwll used acquainttance tests to gain a better understanding of connectors.

working with your reading

I read a variety of of genres. I usually always read fiction type novels including some mystery novels. Also I read a newspaper like USA Today and the Indiana Gazette. Since I usually read fiction, if differs greatly from the genre of Malcom Gladwell's writing. With Gladwell's writing I do more annotating then with fiction novels. It allows me to organize my thoughts and write down any questions I may have. Fiction novels rarely include statistical data or research of topics. Fictional writing is more of a narrative piece. Malcom Gladwell puts his point if view into the book The Tipping Point, but it is also obvious that he has done research, observational studies, and interviews to complete the book. Gladwell has included real life events such as the various social epidemics, where as in fiction, a reader rarely sees this type of writing. Gladwell incorporates his ideas in the book, but does not overwhelm the reader with his thoughts. In fiction novels the authors ideas are not so clear cut. The authors views do not run the plot. So in both Gladwell's book and novels that I have written, their thoughts do not run the text.

Summary of Introduction and Chapter One

The author Malcom Gladwell raises the issue of social epidemics, with the purpose of understanding why some ideas start an epidemic and why other ideas do not. Gladwell argues that epidemics can be started in various ways, by observing several popular trends, diseases, and fashion. In the introduction Gladwell discusses a trend that took place in the 1990s. Hush Puppies were a shoe that was manufactured, but did not become a trend until two people who wanted to be different started to wear them. Once others saw these people wearing the shoes, Hush Puppie sales quickly sky rocketed and became a social epidemic. In chapter one Gladwell discusses a negative social epidemic, that being the outbreak of Syphilis. The syphilis outbreak occured in Baltimore, MD and began 3 different ways. The first being that there were drug users who shared needles and transmitted the disease. The second way was the economic situation at the time and the budget cut back. Therefore clinics were not receiving the money to operate and educate. The third reason for the trend is that low income housing were being torn down and people had to move out of that area and into a new area, spreading the disease.

Research Project Ideas

For my research paper I am interested in researching about nursing equality among minorities. This meaning that nurses are supposed to be caring and understanding of all cultures and to provide adequate health care regardless. Another topic that I am considering is researching nursing in rural areas and how competent the care is. In two of my nursing classes we are discussing the importance of understanding and relating to various cultures. We are taught to not be judgmental of others regardless of their age, looks,class, occupation, etc. We discuss ways to put our personal judgments aside and provide high quality, low cost health care to anyone who walks into a hospital, clinic or doctor's office. We need to work with and work for the patients because helping them work towards an optimal health state is a nurse's number one priority. After all we are the patients advocate. Since I am a nursing major these possible research projects obviously have a huge impact on nursing. The second option is dealing with nursing in rural areas. By rural I mean places that are more then an hour or so away from other forms of civilization. In nursing we just discussed a nurse who was the only health care provider on an island. She had difficulty identifying certain medical conditions and needed to find a way to gain information about the conditions. She got in contact with doctors and physicians assistants on the mainland. Together they developed communication through the Internet help the nurse. The technology after a certain time ended. Just recently this technology has become more advanced. I would like to know if other rural areas are taking advantage of this technology and how high or low the success rate is. Researching either one of these topics is important to me because health care should be offered to everyone regardless of race, socioeconomic status, or anything else. It is important because I come from a rural area and it may be hard for some people to receive health care. In regards to the other topic it will help people to better understand the underlying problems of equal health care opportunities. I can conduct my research by interviewing several of my nursing professors and also my fellow nursing peers on their thoughts and ideas for how to overcome these health care challenges.

Diversity

I never truly experienced diversity until I came to IUP. I come from small town where there is no diversity to be experienced. Therefore, when I came to college I experienced all sorts of diversity from various ethnicity's, music interests, and social groups. Also when I started college a huge social change was occurring in the form of the presidential election. Social change and diversity are both huge aspects of my future career, which is nursing. Everyday I will come into contact with various ethnicity's, languages and cultures. So understanding diversity and being accepting of all cultures is extremely important for my career. To promote diversity through social change means to be accepting and work in partnership with those who want to achieve social change in various organizations, groups, politics, etc. Race, gender, and language rights have never been a huge part of my life experience until I started college. The town I come from is 99% Caucasian and haven't ever really been exposed to minorities. There are two issues regarding social change that interest me in regards to nursing. First, is the issue of equality and providing it equally among all cultures and minorities. Second, is trying to develop ways for heath care to be adequately distributed to people in rural areas.

Subject and Response to Activity One

Thinking back to elementary and middle school, there were several classes in which I had to keep a weekly journal. In the journal I had to write down what I had learned about and if I had any problems understanding the information and if so, what I could do to better understand the material. At the beginning and end of every school year the teachers always required the class to write about how their summer was and what they did or what our plans were for the summer. I also wrote for informational purposes. For example, we would be required to write a paragraph about ourselves, our likes and dislikes, and our interests. These would then be posted on the teacher's wall for classmates to read.I have always found writing to be relatively easy for me. In high school I took an AP English course, which helped me increase my writing abilities tremendously. It taught me how to connect each paragraph to the thesis and how to put my thoughts on paper in a clear and concise manner. Whether I have difficulty with a paper usually depends on the type or the topic of the paper. I enjoy writing papers on topics that I am interested in. I like to write about things that will increase my knowledge and also papers that I can incorporate my own perspective into. Another area of writing that I sometimes struggle with is the ending paragraph. I find that by the end of the paper I have said everything that I wanted to and end up just repeating myself over and over in the last paragraph. I like to read a variety of genres. I really enjoy fiction novels and also books that have been made into movies. In the past I have tried to keep a journal, but a couple weeks in I usually get bored with it and stop. I have never written a novel, short story, or anything similar.I send out several e-mails per week and do send text messages throughout the day. I rarely write letters because I find e-mail to be much more efficient.I work in a nursing home part time and have had to write reports on patients and their health statuses. In high school I have written both minutes and formal letters for various organizations.In regards to the language used while growing up, I can honestly say it has not always been grammatically correct. I come from a small farming and coal region town, where correct language usage and grammar are hard to come by. Most adults who live there speak improperly and have passed it down from generation to generation despite educational learning in the school. My parents are not originally from that area therefore at home I spoke more correctly then what I did at school This is because my peers and even some teachers spoke in a certain way and I picked up on that usage.I took 2 years of Spanish in high school, but have forgotten most of it because I rarely ever speak it. I think it is harder to be descriptive while speaking Spanish then what it is when speaking English. I have written various kinds of writing from persuasive to research and opinion to poetry. In my high school English classes, I had to write many essays, poems, and also a 20 page analysis of a novel.In my opinion, essay and assignment writing are usually based in a topic that is given to you by the teacher. It may be something that you are interested in or it may not be. In most cases essay and assignment writings require rough drafts, complete sentences, and maybe even some research prior to writing the paper. Also, the purpose of writing essays and assignments is usually for a grade and also the audience is the teacher and sometimes classmates. Other writings such as short stories, poems, or diaries are based on the writers thoughts, feelings, emotions, and ideas. These writings are kept private and may sometimes be grammatically incorrect. The writer writes whatever comes to mind and can really put their perspective into it. Short stories are written for others to see, but reflect the writers own views.

A little bit about myself.

I am a sophomore nursing student. I am currently involved in Phi Eta Sigma and Delta Epsilon Iota: Honors Fraternity. After graduation I would like to work in either the emergency room or with oncology patients. I come from a small town in eastern Pennsylvania. I love to read and I usually always have a book with me. I live on a farm and enjoy being outdoors. I also enjoy hunting. I also play intramural basketball.

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kaitlyn IUP