Blog #6

I am in the early process of my research paper. I have begun to look into sources I could use for my paper.  So far I have found some on the health benefits of coffee that then led me to other articles about it. I would like to find more information in books, I feel this will give me a more in depth and reliable look at the information I need. Rather than looking at the different definitions of coffee flavor and ways to prepare coffee, I have narrowed my search down to the origins, myths, and health benefits of coffee. I believe all three of these different topics can tie together nicely.

Blog #5

The topic I am leaning towards is coffee. I choose this one because I believe it will be the most interesting to me. I love coffee and want to learn about it so some day when I open my own coffee shop I will be more knowledgeable about it. I want my paper to first introduce some of the myths about coffee and the origins of it, then to work it's way into disproving or supporting some of the myths and how coffee has grown in its uses. My next plans are to research the different myths and origins. Then to work my way into health benefits and other uses.

Blog #4

So far I do not have any questions about the course.

Blog #3

After watching this video again, I began thinking about how true many of the signs they held up were.  It was interesting to think about but I can’t say the subjects were something I had not thought of before.  Each of these issues has been brought up at one time or another throughout my everyday conversations. Instead of finding the video inspiring, however, I found it to be incredibly whiney. I understand how the students feel, I just don’t get why I should care so much about the topics they brought up.

 The section in the video where the students are saying how they have to multi task made me laugh.  If you go back and watch what they are saying takes up so much time, barely any of them have to do with school.  It was funny that they even included listening to music.  Seriously, who just listens to music for 2.5 hours/day while doing nothing else?  I listen to 3x as much music in a day, but I may also be driving, working, reading, or doing homework at the same time.  If some of the students in this video would just get off facebook and hang up the phone they would have lots more time in their day. Maybe if there had been people holding up signs that read, “I have to work 25 hours/week just to make ends meet.” Or “I spend 2 hours/day commuting to and from school.”  Then I would be more understanding of the “not enough hours in a day” argument.

Another girl in the video wrote, “My neighbor paid for class but never comes.” So what? Don’t worry about your neighbor, that was their decision, not yours.  Maybe they dropped the class and got a full refund, you don’t know. So don’t think about the things that really don’t concern you.

One more issue the video addressed was about the problems of the world that we didn’t start but have to deal with anyways.  I still don’t understand what the big deal is; every generation has this kind of problem.  Chances are we will start problems too, and someday our children will have to deal with them. Life goes on.

            I wish I would have gotten something positive out of this video but really the whole thing just felt like a bunch of students were whining about how hard it is to be a student in today’s world.  Which, based on their arguments, I just don’t believe. 

Blog #2

Over Labor Day weekend my family and I, along with 10 other families, went to Pokagon State Park.  The 12 pictures I took are all taken in different places around the camp site.  I started by walking around looking for something interesting to take pictures of. This first picture is, obviously, of a tree.  I took the picture looking directly up into the branches.

My next picture is similar but slightly different. I wanted to try taking pictures of a tree in a new location, from a different angle, and looking at a new perspective. In this photo I decided to focus more on the leaves.  I took it from an angle that would give a good look at the water behind it.

In my third picture i decided to do something similar to what I did in my last picture, but once again I added a little more detail to the photo.  This time not only did i make sure to get the water but i found a bush with red berries on it. Also in this picture there are a lot more shadows in comparison to the last one. I also found it interesting that two very similar pictures could look so completely different. 

Here I got a more broad view of the beach area. You can see more bushes and trees.  This photo is just to give the overall idea of what and where the last 2 pictures were taken.

My next picture I took focused more on the water and the beach. It is once again taken at a new angle and perspective.  I zoomed in more on the ground rather than trying to get a big overall view of the lake. The foam in the picture seems to almost catch the motion of the water as it washes up onto the shore. 

This photo focuses on the beach, or rather the shells you find on the beach. With this picture I got in close and personal with the ground. I arranged the shells in a way I thought would look interesting.  I then had to make sure my shutter speed and macro settings were set correctly.  I then got really close to the ground and snapped the picture. It was a more difficult process than the first pictures but I believe the creativity in it makes it better.

After taking the shell picture I decided it was time to move off in a different direction. I wanted to try my skill at getting a good fire picture. I had to once again make sure all of my settings were correct before taking these pictures. I had to focus on my shutter and aperture settings because I did not want my picture coming out too dark or too light.

My next fire picture I decided to try from a slightly different angle and with a little darker look. I like this picture because it has a much higher color contrast than the first one.

My last fire picture has the added bonus of the hot dogs. They seem to make the whole picture more casual and relatable. I really like this picture because of the shadows throughout the whole image.

My last area of focus was on the water and sunset. It was something that I had overlooked but once seen at a different time of day it was beautiful.

Here is another photo of the sunset as the sun went down a little more.

In the last picture you can see the sunset in it's richest colors. The pictures also seems to be a conclusion to the weekend, it shows the day ending.  The people in the photo also show the real meaning behind the whole overall theme of Group Camp.  Which is a chance to be with your friends and connect. 

Overall, what I learned from this experiment was to focus on a certain topic in an overall theme, and then to look at that topic from different perspectives. It is also important in writing to pay attention to detail and try to make it interesting to your audience. 

Blog #1

5 TOPICS! 

   

   1.   Coffee

Why?  I love coffee! I think the origins and process of making coffee is interesting and would love to know all about it.  I also love that there are so many different ways that you can manipulate coffee beans to create something enjoyable.  I would also love to learn everything I can about coffee because of my major.  I am going to school for business management and my goal is to some day open my own coffee shop.  In order to do this I believe I should know a lot more about coffee than what I already do.  So far the only search engine I have used is Google.  I started my search with “coffee” and came up with 192,000,000 hits.  When I began to use more specific searches my results became smaller.  Along with “coffee” I also tried “history of coffee” (92,800,000 hits), “origins of coffee beans from around the world” (308,000 hits), and “defining the flavor of coffee” (5,550,000 hits).  I believe that many of the most specific searches gave me sites that will prove to be very useful if I were to choose this for my topic.  However, just searching for “coffee” came up with many links to sites where I can buy coffee.

   2.   Fashion Design

Why?  Well once again this is a topic I love and would love to know more about.  I would like to explore the history of fashion design, look into what inspires many of the famous designers around the world, and what having a job in this field would entitle.  I have taken a few different sewing classes and art classes so I do know some about fashion and design but not much about fashion design as a whole.  I started off searching on Google with just “fashion design” which resulted in 154,000,000 hits.  I then narrowed it down to “history of fashion design” (31,800,000 hits) and “top fashion designers” (8,160,000 hits).  The results of these searches brought up many education sites where I could learn how to do fashion design or go to school for it.  I also found a site that has top fashion designers portfolios, which could prove to be very useful.  Another site I looked at was the Occupational Outlook Handbook.  I believe this one will be very helpful when I start looking at what will go into a career in fashion design.  I also decided to check out the Art Institute’s web page.  When trying to decide on a college AI was one I was very interested in for a fashion management degree.  I’m hoping this site will tell me a lot about how long it takes to get a degree, job opportunities, and what the classes will be like for a fashion design degree.

   3.   StoryCorps.com

Why?  I just recently discovered this site when a friend of mine sent me a link to it.  It’s a site that people submit a recording of their story.  StoryCorps mission statement, found at www.storycorps.org/about, is “to provide Americans of all backgrounds and beliefs with the opportunity to record, share, and preserve the stories of our lives.”  I would love to know all about this non-profit company; how they got started, why they did it, how can I get involved, and if or how the stories impacted other peoples lives.  My main research would probably done at their main site.  When I typed “Story Corps” into Google I received 7,400,000 hits.  Most of the links lead me back to different areas of StoryCorps main page.  I’m not sure that I will be able to find enough info to write about this organization for a whole semester but I definitely think it would be a very interesting topic to look into and learn more about.

   4.   London

Why?  Well because it’s Europe; it’s theatre, art, and history!  I went to London when I was 11 and fell in love, not only with the accents, but with everything.  I loved the rich history and architecture there, and whenever I think about London now I can’t help but imagine sitting at a café writing poetry (I don’t enjoy writing poetry as much I love the idea of it J).  London felt right; everywhere I looked I saw something that reminded me of home.  Normally this would make a person homesick but not me, all I could think about was the day I would officially move there.  So now I would love to know more about the art and history of it.  When I typed “London” into Google I received 916,000,000 hits, so I decided to narrow my search.  Next I tried “architecture in London” (43,700,000 hits), “art in London” (200,000,000 hits), and “history of London: (260,000,000 hits).  I believe London would be very interesting to me to research for a whole semester and it probably would not be too hard to find quality sites for it.  I believe the library would also have lots of books about London’s history.  If I do choose to write about London I would probably also do some research about places to visit. 

   5.   Euthanasia

Why?  I recently read a story in my Ethics class about a doctor who helped a terminally ill patient of his commit suicide.  I didn’t think much about it at first, but now I am thinking it would be interesting to look into.  I would like to learn about the moral debates going on over the method.  How often does euthanasia actually happen?  Is it legal? How ill does a patient have to be before a doctor will consider euthanasia? When I searched on Google I started with “euthanasia” and received 22,100,000 hits.  Next I tried “moral debate on euthanasia” (313,000 hits), “laws on euthanasia” (823,000 hits), and “history of euthanasia” (271,000 hits).  I believe I could find a lot of medical and moral sites on the subject of euthanasia.  It’s a controversial topic to a lot of people, which would make a very interesting subject to do some research on and then form a well informed opinion about.