Choices, Choices, Choices

My Research

My research is about why athletes perform their superstitions. I want to know all the back ground information of how it started and how over time it became more popular and sometimes noted the athlete more than weather their performance was well or not. It talks about how it is a mental thing they do and how athletes are probably one of the most superstitious humans that we know and can relate to. Because they are under a lot of stress and their career depends heavily on their success they will do these little quarks to gain control of the situation and to put stress of of them and onto something else. My rough thesis this far is weather the superstitions actually help the level of performance these athletes put on.
So far my trouble has been to get an intro going. I'm trying to get it be attention grabbing but so far it seems choppy and not really having a good flow. I'm going to try a personal story and I have a really good one that deals with my superstition I do everytime i play soccer. But trying to make it intriging is a bit difficult. Also I'm not trying to make this paper an argument paper and not argue with critics who say that some athletes that do perform superstitions so it will help their rep instead of actually doing it and believing in it. I also don't want to make this paper too personal, I have a superstition for every sport I play so I don't know if I should mention all of them, or just the one in my intro? But other than that the research is going well and I did have luck finding sources that are helpful in answering my thesis.
This is important because sports are a big part of human life. And the celebrity athletes are even bigger than the game. And a lot of big shot athletes do these little superstitions that everyone notices, and it seems when the average person plays the game they will try and do the superstitions the professionals do to enhance their game. It would be fair to say that a majority of all athletes do some sort of ritual to get ready for the game and when it has had a rewarding out come they like to think that the ritual they did had something to do with it. So wanting those results to continue they keep doing it and they believe that it does have some source of luck for them. This had connection in the real world by immitating how other outside of sports might wear lucky jewlery or and uniform to a business interview or to get a possible promotion. It goes into the real world that they do these superstitions and whether they work or not is up to the people who do them.

Timing is Everything

I'm going to be writing on homelessness, and whose fault is it that we have homelessness. The thesis that I am working on so far is "homelessness is a problem that botht the homeless and non homeless are responsible for because they deserve the chance to succed and take advantage of their opportunities. Im not to sure it makes sense and the last part is a little vague of what exactly it means to take advantage of their opportunities. I believe in self help but sometimes you do need a jump start to get there. Some of the arguments that I am going to support my paper will be, they are people and just because they are less fortunate we should treat them any lower. How there is so many big time celebrities that have money how is it that there is still homeless. Homeless need to sometimes take responsibity for their mishaps and try and learn from it instead of just giving up.
Sources that I'm using the web site National Coalition for the Homeless, its a world wide organization to help homeless people and to house them. I have 3 books that I will also be using. Responding to America's Homeless, by F. Stevens Redburn and Terry F. Buss, they are going to discuss how to react and try and help those who are less fortunate than us. They did a year long research on homeless people and did their studies in Ohio. The next book, Beside the Golden Door, by James D. Wright and he is going to discuss all the view points of homelessness. He is a professor of Human Relations and Department of Sociology. He is a doctor and is the author of 13 books that deal with homelessness. My third book is, Paths to Homelessness, by Doug A. Timmer, which is going to talk about how people become homeless and the different cases of homelessness. He interviewed several homeless people and had help from several organizations who are experts in the field of housing and homeless. My other source is that I am going to interview a homeless person via email, its in part with the National Coalition for the Homeless, so hopefully I can find some of a victims point of view on this situation.
I think my issue is timely, it is prevalent in so many areas, not just here in the US but clearly a world wide pandemic. Even here in Arcata, we encounter homelessness. I think I need to join in on the conversation because, homeless people don't really have a voice, there are so many stereotypes, and fears against these types of people. By doing this research hopefully there will be a decline in the amount of homeless people because we will know how to address the situation and be able to work together to help each other. My personal connection, my dad has experienced times of homelessness, and it bothers me, and I want to help him out.

The New Fundamentalism

It was good that Easterbrook did use the comparison to establish his stand on the issue. By using this tactic it can show that things haven't changed in that long of a time. The trial of John Scopes happened in 1925, and he is writing about an event that is ocurring in 1999. It can show that this is still a difficult decision to make but over that time you can build up more facts to the arguement and maybe be able to come out with a better answer, instead of when it first occured almost 80 years ago. However do I think its "fair" that he put it in his arguement, doesn't make sense. To not question God and the head of the biology department, what does that mean? Personally, I was raised catholic and attended a Catholic higschool and was taught you could believe in either creationism or Darwinism as long as you knew that God had part to do with both of them. I think that by him not questioning those two sources his essay seems bias and really don't get much of a debate but more of a lecture. Just re-reading it now I see that he is mocking society of how they are handling the situation and I do agree with him. We are inquisitve humans and need to know answers to the unexplainable. So I think that we should question religion and science. Easterbrook's piece was confusing to me, so sorry if this blog makes absolutely no sense, and if it seems that I am on the fence with the issue as well.

Pollan: Part Two

The entire pieces as a whole was very enjoyable to read, and I liked doing some critical thinking on the piece and how it made me ponder, and make up an opinion on the situation. Pollan is talking about "tail docking" on pigs and how it was cruel and really had not method to its madness. Then he mentions Matthew Scully's, Dominion, and it mentions about the issue on a biblical sense. "God did give man "dominon" over animals ("Every moving thing that liveth shall be meat for you"), he also admonished us to show them mercy." This line just stuck with me and I found it very interesting, because we as humans do live and could be meat for eachother. Pollan also talks about how certain humans and different, but we don't mutilate or torture them, but rather try to help them through life. Then why are animals so different? This quote says that we show the ones that we kill mercy, that doesn't mean that we treat humans or animals cruel, but with the "consciousness, cermenoy and respect they deserve."
Many farmers think they are just animals and they can't show suffereing, we could say the same thing about a mentally challenged person that they can't show suffereing either. Just as long as we avoid eye contact, which is another point that Pollan made in the begining of his piece, which I agree with. We avoid eye contact because we subconsciously don't want to sympathize for an animal that we kill and might be eating later. Pollan had great references and his argument was strong, and his facts were able to back up his point, which I think is key into having a debate.

Pollan: Part One

Michael Pollan's piece An Animal's Place, was very well written and it had many great points to it. He did make me laugh about certain things, I could picture him at a Stewart Andersons, with a nice rib eye and reading Animal Liberation. It was rich and he wasn't trying to be funny, but how it was presented was humorous. But I did get the feel that he really didn't pick a side, rather more on the fence of the problem. It seem that he would provide a lot of facts on other sides of the issue and then question the reader what they should think about the subject. He wouldn't really choose either black or white but stay more in the gray area. Pollan did very well on gathering facts and using alot of outside sources though and although he didn't make clear his view points on the subject he did have an opinion on the topic. It is good that he didn't just flat out state his point of view on it and just rant on how he thinks its right, because then it would have no strong supporting facts to back it up. But here in the first part he got alot of information to the reader so they wouldn't be quick to judge and already make up their minds on the decision. Pollan did have a good arguement and yes it was well written, but I don't think he deserved as much praise as JR has given him.

Foreigner! No, Not the Rock Band

Bich mentions in her story about the time her teacher would award the best student with a stuffed lion for a week. And then at the end of the year she would give it away to the best student for them to keep. At my elementary school I was in 4th grade and they would do something similar. They would announce in front of the entire school the best student of every class. Well I was so sure that I was the best in my class, I even tried extra hard to pass everything and be as courteous as I could to everyone! Well I was so sure that I would be the recipient of the award I invited my dad and my mom to come and see me receive this award. As it turns out, I didn't get the award, no my best friend Danielle did. I was crushed and wanted to cry because I made both my mom and dad get off work to come and see me, receive absolutely nothing. I felt that hurt that Bich felt, when you are for certain to earn something and then it goes to someone else who you knew in your heart that you deserved it and not them!
What Bich does in her story that really makes it believable is the details she puts into every memory she had. She really sells the story and she doesn't blow it out of proportion, she says how it was and gives off this vibe, that you the reader feel are going through the same thing she is. Her authentic voice is real, you feel the hurt and embarrassment that she had to experience growing up during that time and through those conditions. By putting in so much detail about every episode she had, the audience develops this sympathy for Bich, and want her to succeed in her education.