Prompt C

However, I know there are several trials associated with parenting as well. I know that pregnancy is not easy for everyone. I know several women who have been so sick during pregnancy that they have been hospitalized multiple times. They didn't have morning sickness just in the morning, or only in the first trimester. They were sick most of the day for 7 or 8 months. That trial is just to bear the baby. Not to mention the pain of labor or the emergency caesarean one had, or the life threatening hemorrhaging another had. When I think of those types of things just to bring a child into this world, it seems like much more than I could handle. I am amazed at what a woman can take for her children.
After the trial of bearing the child and delivering the child that can be much tougher for some than others, the trial of a newborn arrives. The seemingly endless nights of waking up multiple times with the child, and not being able to get that sleep back because while the child sleeps there are other chores that need to be attended to. My sister once told me she is sure that new mothers are blessed with the ability to function on much less sleep than is needed normally. I can't say for sure without experiencing it, but it is amazing to me how much mothers of brand new babies can do on the slim amounts of sleep they are getting.
Besides the baby not sleeping through the night and needing the attention of its mother all the time, there is the added trial for first time mothers of figuring out how much to pamper their precious child. Trying to determine which cries mean which ailment. Does the baby need to be fed, changed or held? Do I hold the baby every time he or she cries? Doesn't that teach the baby that they need to be held all the time? How much pampering of the baby is too much? There are endless questions that have to be worked out and parenting techniques to be agreed upon with a spouse. And all this just within the first year of the child's life. Then there are many more years of trials resulting directly from this life that a sacrificing mother brought into this world.

49 minutes

Supplemental Prompt E: Commentary on "Sometimes he calms the storm" by Scott Krippayne

I wanted to do a commentary on a song I heard over the radio because it really inspired me. Sorry if this blog is more spiritual than beautiful and creative writing. The purpose of this blog is mainly to tell about the impressions I had when listening to a song. The lyrics to the chorus are as followed:

Sometimes He calms the storm as He whispers peace be still

He can calm the raging sea but it doesn't mean He will.

Sometimes He holds the storm and lets the waves and wind go wild.

Sometimes He calms the storm and other times He calms His child.

I heard that song and I really thought about every word and how it relates to me. Analyzing the first line what impressed me was the word "whispers." It truly shows the Lord's power because He can calm a storm simply with a whisper. When I picture the Savior speaking I always picture him speaking in a calm, quiet voice. Contrary to what many believe, calm and quiet are not signs of weakness. It truly shows discipline and it is a talent to be able to speak in a soft voice and still be heard. The key is that there is so much power in everything He says that He does not need to yell to exercise power over the elements. He has demonstrated this in the New Testament when He calmed the sea and showed his complete control of the elements. The word "can" in the next line is important because the Lord always has the power to stop a storm or exercise his power in any way but it doesn't mean He always will exercise this power. Why won't be exercise His power if a righteous person asks with a righteous intent? The Lord sometimes does not intervene because we need that experience. There is opposition in all things and in order for us to grow we must experience trials, temptations, and sorrow. A good example would be Joseph Smith who went through so much tribulation and asked the Lord why he had to suffer. The Lord said that all things are for thy learning and good. Every situation placed before us is presented in order for us to exercise our agency and also develop Christ-like attributes whether they be patience or long-suffering. The next line says he "holds" the storm and lets the waves and wind go wild. The Lord is still in control of a situation. We can access the Lord's power through prayer but sometimes it is not His will. Those times that He does not take the storm away He calms us. He gives us the power, the fortitude, the strength, and the wisdom to overcome things we thought impossible to endure. A friend of mine always tells me, "Stop telling the Lord how strong the storm is, tell the storm how strong your Lord is." We are never alone. We are never abandoned. We must remember that when the Lord is on our side we are in control of the storm.

512 words

Prompt B

Before delete/delve:

The process of tasting the food you put in your mouth is one with many different parts. The process starts in the food, a strawberry. The strawberry is filled with dissolved molecules and ions, which are called tastants and make the taste. We put the strawberry in our mouth and it passes over the taste buds that cover our mouth. Each taste bud has a pore or opening that the tastants flow through. Once inside the taste bud, the tastants enter the taste receptor cells. The molecules are broken down and a message is sent to the brain. The message that is sent to the brain is the taste. So, the strawberry’s taste is recognized in the brain as a sweet taste. There are five basic tastes humans recognize; sweet, sour, bitter, salty, and umami. Each taste has certain taste buds that recognize that specific taste. They are all located in different sections on the tongue. The tastes of food fit into these five categories, though sometimes they are combinations of the five.

After delete/delve:

The process of tasting the food you put in your mouth is one with many different parts. We start with a type of food, let's say a strawberry.The strawberry is filled with dissolved molecules and ions, which are called tastants and make the taste. We put the strawberry in our mouth and it passes over the taste buds that cover our mouth. Each taste bud has a pore or opening that the tastants flow through. Once inside the taste bud, the tastants enter the taste receptor cells. The molecules are broken down and a message is sent to the brain. So, the strawberry’s taste is recognized in the brain as a sweet taste. There are five basic tastes humans recognize; sweet, sour, bitter, salty, and umami. The tastes are recognized by a specific regions on the tongue. All foods fit into these five categories of tastes, although some foods are combinations. I often wonder why I enjoy foods that others don't, what combinations are pleasant and what combinations are disgusting? Different sets of taste buds have different regions of strengths and weaknesses. Which is why we all have different tastes.

*I have been reading articles that prove this point, but I haven't found the right quotations or research just yet. I'm still working on this paragraph.

A New Perspective

First Paragraphs

Adoption is a complicated process. There are papers to sign, bills to pay, and emotional stress for each side in preparing for the baby to come. A baby has half of it’s father’s genes and half its mother’s (gene thing). However, when the baby is given to a new set of parents it doesn’t have either set of genes. The baby then grows up with a new family, taking on the traits of its parents and learning from them. It is unsure how different the baby would have been if it were raised by the other set of parents. The question is who’s genetic traits does the baby then inherit? If some traits are learned and some traits are genetic who is the baby more like? It’s biological set of parent or it’s real parents

Behavioral Genetics was first thought of by Sir Francis Bacon hundreds of years ago (Behavioral Genetics). Since then it has become a more of a studied science. Behavioral Genetics have been able to help us do stem cell research and find help for those with depression and other genetically inherited mental problems. Behavioral Genetics has opened the doors to new kinds of thinking. Some of it is good and some of it is contrary to what I believe or what I have grown up believing. The three basic models or ways to study behavioral genetics is through families, twins and adoptions. I cannot read every study that have been done on adoptive parents but there have been some interesting studies I would like to talk about. 

Delved Paragraphs

Adoption is a complicated process. There are papers to sign, bills to pay and emotion stress fro each side of the adoption in preparing this new baby to come. However, in my case I’m sure the stress of having a new baby for my mother was far beyond the stress of my new parents. She was 17, I couldn’t imagine what it would have been like for her and not only her age she was alone. My father who genetically accounts for half of the person I am wanted nothing to do with me. He didn’t feel that my life was important and signed me away as soon as he could. I don’t know much about my biological dad except that he was quiet and serious. He wasn’t a member of the church and he didn’t share my same value system. However, my biological mother I can relate to her. She was mormon and in a lot of trouble. I have been there not to her extreme but the pain she felt from having lost her way. That I can relate to. I don’t know how much stronger or better she is for having this situation but if she is anything like me this experience was a growing experience for her. Maybe one she could have avoided if she were more careful but everyone makes mistakes. These small thing are all I know about my biological parents; the one’s who genes I have. A child has half of their mother’s genes and half their fathers (Wikkipdeia). When adopted the baby may eventually meet the set of parents that gave birth to them but that is a rare occasion. However, how much is the baby like those set of parents? Do the look like them? Do they act like them? How many similar traits are really inherited?  

Behavioral Genetics is the study of these questions. How much does a child inherit from their parents and How does this affect them as a person. Behavioral Genetics studies three basic things to determine how much is inherited. They study a normal family, twins and adopted children. In many studies it is hard to determine how much of the study is actually legitimate (Rende). There are so many factors to take into account because genetics are so complicated. However, one article I read said that a child is more affected by it’s environment (“Heart of the Issue”). This means that my personality and the person I am today has little to do with my biological parents. My personality traits mainly come from the things I have seen and chose to act upon. However, some of my traits come from both sides of the adoption. Self-esteem is a genetic trait but I feel that my confidence comes from my real father. If it is proven that some of my personality traits are inherited how do I know that they really are? Maybe I have changed according to my environment? These are things that Behavioral Genetic Scientists think over and determine. I feel like I am going in circles this debate has to end somewhere. Who Am I?

 55 minutes

Week 9 Prompt C

It seems that those monks did not share the enthusiasm for keeping things the same. Shortly after “tenez" grew in popularity in the 14th century, “gloves were used to prevent the build-up of calluses” (Koran). It took the next two hundred years for the game to finally get rid of the cumbersome gloves and introduce paddles. It was soon after this that tennis began to spread throughout Europe. In the 16th century, it was the Italians who developed the next biggest adaption to tennis – the wooden racquet! “The early racquets had a long handle and a small, teardrop-shaped head” (Cooper). Slight modifications on the racquet were made over the next 400 years. The heads grew wider and the handles shrunk in the 1870’s. There were slight, if any, changes during the “era” of the wooden racquet until 1970 (cooper). It was then that the first metallic racquet appeared in professional play. The technology behind racquet production has been developing new stronger and better racquets faster than ever before. Metal racquets have gone from steel to graphite to aluminum and then to a blend of graphite and titanium for strength and lightness and make the game more fast paced.

However; some think that athletes, tennis players especially, have become too dependent on this newer and better technology. Just like how batters in major league baseball can't use metal bats, critics of the new racket technology argue that wooden rackets should still be in use to day. They claim that the metal rackets, with their light weight and strength, make the game of tennis too easy - that it no longer takes the skill it used to to play at a professional level. Evidence of their claim comes in the form of Wilson's newest racket development, an electrical racket (this racket is not what you might think, it still has the normal strings but it has a device on the side of the frame that is a power converter- I think it would be cool if the racket had lazers for strings, since that what I first thought of when I researched this while writing this prompt). This new racket will be able to convert the kinetic energy from the ball into electrical energy, thereby reducing the amount of vibration that players feel from hitting hard shots. This seems to give their argument credibility. Technology is making it easier and easier for players to excel in tennis. These new rackets will drastically improve the game play and the amount of "skill."
50 minutes (I know it may not look it, but I had to research the opposing view of racket technology)

Week 9 Prompts

A. Read a current article that applies to your topic from two substantial newspapers. (Properly cite both articles). Consider what each writer contributes to the topic, who the audience is for each article, what the claims, reasons and assumptions of the articles are, etc. Write a paragraph that you might incorporate into your essay based on the information you gained from these articles.

B. Delete or Delve: Choose one paragraph from your ruminative essay. Does each idea connect to the question? Do you expand on your reasons sufficiently? Delete what is unnecessary and delve into the most important parts of this paragraph. Do this for two paragraphs in your paper and post them.

C. Choose a section of your ruminative essay that makes an assertion. Start a new paragraph directly after it with the word “However” and write about the opposite(s) of your assertion. Explore other possibilities and perspectives.

I thought I had posted these earlier. Sorry!

Week 9 Prompt B

Before Delete/Delve

            After World War II women took over the cheerleading scene.  Suddenly it was seen as feminine.  Cheerleading stayed this way up until the late 1960’s (Ralston).  Back in the day being a cheerleader showed that a girl was popular and eligible for marriage (Ralston).  This, I believe, is where the stereotypes for cheerleading began.  The typical cheerleader is blonde, trim, popular, not very bright, only dates athletes and is extra peppy all the time.  Back then they were not chosen for their talent, but for their popularity; instead of trying out in front of a panel of judges, the student body got to choose who would be on the cheerleading squad.  When students got to choose, the popular girls that were chosen were the stereotypes that we see today and have therefore set a generalization for the rest of us, the trim part especially.  Even up untill the early 2K years, there was a certain pressure to be very thin and have an attractive figure. 

In the 1980’s, a poll was taken on desire for thinness at a summer cheerleading camp.  The girls with a greater desire to be skinny were found to have more cases of bulimia, a serious eating disorder in which one goes through a viscious cycle of binging and then purging what they put down (Lundholm & Littrell).  A girl that was on the Davis High cheer squad the year before my sophomore year had a problem with bulimia.  She was sent to a rehabilitation center to take care of her eating disorder because she was beyond the point of helping herself.  In my personal observation, the need to be extremely thin has decreased.  At national competitions there would be girls that would strut out onto the floor like they were it and I would wonder to myself, “How in the world did that girl make it?  She is way too big to be doing this sort of stuff.”  But low and behold, time and time again the thickest girls on the team would be the best ones. 

After Delete/Delve

After World War II cheerleading became the woman’s job, becoming one of the gender roles created by society.  Cheerleading stayed this way up until the late 1960’s because it was a women’s sport  and seen as feminine (Ralston).  Traditional gender roles, such as the man being the bread-winner and the woman being the house-maker, were maintained by high school students up until the 1980’s (Suitor & Reavies).  This is most likely the reason why men didn’t really become involved in cheerleading again until the later 1900’s.  For the most part, male cheerleaders steer clear of the femine aspects of the sport because they don’t want to be viewed as homosexual; this way masculinity and femininity are performed side by side in the same activity (Grindstaff). 

Back in the day being a cheerleader showed that a girl was popular and eligible for marriage (Ralston).  This, I believe, is where the stereotypes for cheerleading began.  The typical cheerleader is blonde, trim, popular, not very bright, only dates athletes and is extra peppy all the time.  Back then girls were not chosen for their talent, but for being popular and well known.  Originally they were chosen to be on the cheer squad by the student body instead of a panel of experienced judges.  When students got to choose, the popular girls that were chosen were the stereotypes that we see today and have therefore set a generalization for the rest of us, the trim part especially.  Even up untill the early 2K years, there was a certain pressure to be very thin and have an attractive figure. 

In the 1980’s, a survey was given to the participants at a cheer camp with questions about their desire for thinness.  The girls with a greater desire to be skinny were found to have more cases of bulimia, a serious eating disorder in which one goes through a viscious cycle of binging and then purging (Lundholm & Littrell).  Before my sophomore year there was a girl on the Davis High cheer squad that had a severe problem with bulimia.  She was sent to a rehabilitation center to take care of her eating disorder because she was beyond the point of helping herself.  Her condition was poor and her cheerleading career was filled with injuries because of the harsh things she was doing to her body.  In my personal observation, the cheerleaders of today don’t have as much of a problem with eating disorders.  At national competitions I have seen girls that are larger and I think to myself, “How in the world did that girl make it?  She is way too big to be doing this sort of stuff.”  But low and behold, time and time again the thickest girls on the team are usually the best ones. 

40 min. 

Week 9 Prompt C

Blog Week Nine Prompt C

In one paragraph of my essay I assert that women are sold a false, unhealthy and unattainable view of beauty. Then the advertising companies prey on insecurities engendered by this view. I chose to explore the opposites of this assertion

However, detractors of this view point would argue that todays standard of beauty is attainable, and give the models in their adds as examples. Then they would talk about how their products help people to achieve the standard of beauty. They would also assert that women are not sold things they don’t need. Many women would feel uncomfortable without their beauty products, make up, push up bras, and high heels. These products help them to feel better about themselves and to make them more confident in their beauty.

Another assertion is that beauty products do exactly what they are advertised to do. They make women more beautiful. They accentuate, develop, and deepen beauty. Do people find a blank canvas more attractive, or a well painted work of art? Women can achieve a higher standard than men through the expansion of the foundation of natural beauty through products. Why make them stay on the lower plain if they have the ability to go higher?

Beauty products add culture and refinement to life. People in other countries are not as lucky as those of us that live in well off, developed countries. Women in the United States can take steps to go above the look of a woman working for her daily sustenance or who spends her all time tending to the needs of children. A woman who can take time to be concerned about her looks and work to heighten them is the mark of a successful culture. Beautiful women are one of the pinnacles of societal achievement, goddess like examples of the potential of mankind. Other highly developed societies had their beauties. The Greeks had Helen, the Egyptians Cleopatra. The model marks a high point.

Why should women who are beautiful bring themselves down? People should be allowed to express beauty in any way they want. Everyone is free to accept their own version of beauty and who has the right to say that thiers is unhealthy, false, or unattainable! Is it their fault that they were born the way they are? Is it their fault that culture has developed in such a way that the particular traits they have are the most desirable? They surely are not to blame if others feel insecure or inferior.

Beauty is like a free market economy. Cut throat and competitive It is one of the ways people can distinguish themselves and excel. Not allowing the expression of the accepted standard of beauty would amount to feel good, hippie, appearance socialism.

Over an hour, sorry if this seems sexist, I didn't assert these things...

Week 8 prompt A

I chose to do prompt A this week as the other prompts are currently infeasible due to time constraints. In prompt A we are to chose an essay that is related to the topic of our paper. Well I got on quotidiana.org and searched "mountain biking", "mountain bikes", "trial biking", "bikes", "bike", and "awesomeness" with absolutely no results(I thought it was funny that qoutidiana.org doesn't have any "awesomeness"). With this in mind I now set out to find why a website that has essays from a variety of time periods and places doesn't have anything on mountain biking. Mountain biking is a sport that involves a bike and is therefore a pretty awesome sport. Except for road biking everything involving a bike is exciting and very worthwhile (sorry for those of you who ride road bikes). Anyways, why would a sport that possesses such youthful vigor not be included in a collection of works that usually make such a vice a common theme? Needless to say I was quite puzzled. Did these various authors simply never have the incredible opportunity to write about mountain biking? As I feel very strongly about the incredible power and shear bodaciousness of mountain biking it is my opinion that the reason that qoutidiana.org does not have any essays on mountain biking or biking in any form is because the contributors lack the.... I feel that if I were to finish this post it would probably offend someone. So I will finish it thus: ...ability to have access to a mountain bike. 1 hour 10 minutes

Prompt A

I found an essay on Quotidiana called "A bachelor’s complaint of the behaviour of married people" written by Charles Lamb. Most of the essay pertained to how people change after they get married, and would have been an essay similar to one I would have written previous to being married. But once you get married, you usually understand why your friends changed once they got married. But that is not really the point. There was a section where Lamb refers to the children of married people, and how you can't win with children. He says how if you ignore them you are accused of not liking children and if you play with them, the children are viewed as obnoxious. It brought up a new point in my issue of people liking children. Do some couples decide not to have children because they don't want to have guests be annoyed by their children. Or possibly because they feel like having children would affect their social lives negatively? I have been focusing my thoughts on people not wanting to have children because they are a burden. And wanting to have children because the cute moments make having the burden worth it. I haven't really approached the issue of what happens to a person socially once they have children. And what happens if someone doesn't like your children. Maybe they don't visit as often? Lamb speaks of the fact that no matter what the parents are like, children are their own people, and aren't necessarily going to be pleasant to deal with for a friend of the parents. Sometimes maybe parents just assume that everyone will love their children as they do, and that is most definitely not the case. It is an interesting twist on my issue that I may want to address.

1 hour 10 minutes