Healthcare Video

Possessives and Plurals

If a noun owns something or is closely associated with it, it's possessive. Use an apostrophe. [Exception: pronoun forms like its, hers, whose, ours, yours, and theirs]

If not, it's plural. Don't use an apostrophe.

http://www.usu.edu/markdamen/WritingGuide/13posspl.htm

Dangling Participles

Adjectives ending in -ing (and sometimes -ed) are called participles and must be used with care. Consider the following sentences:
The robber ran from the policeman, still holding the money in his hands. After being whipped fiercely, the cook boiled the egg. Flitting gaily from flower to flower, the football player watched the bee.
If you said the last sentence to the football player's face just the way it's phrased above, you could end up a bloody lump of pulp lying on the astroturf, because he might conclude you think he "flits gaily," a thing most people in his profession don't do, at least in public.
The grammatical problem here rests with the -ing and -ed words used in these sentences: "holding," "being whipped," and "flitting." They are all participles, a type of verbal form that modifies nouns. The antecedent—that is, the noun to which the participle refers—must be clear to the readers in order for them to understand what's being said. Otherwise, an action may be subscribed to the wrong player, such as "flitting" to athletes. That's called a "dangling participle," because it's left "dangling" without a clear antecedent.

http://www.usu.edu/markdamen/WritingGuide/10dangpt.htm

America The Beautiful

D'souza's piece America the beautiful was interesting. To be honest I have never really had a huge interest in history, but being in my history class this semester it was really cool to read an opinion on it. I felt that D'sousa's piece was very much opinionated. I agree with it that when america comes together then we will get more accomplished and I was enthralled by the story when it got to the part about 9.11 because I remember that like it was yesterday.
overall the story was great and seemed to correspond to what I am learning in history. Nice piece.

Thesis

World of Warcraft (WoW) currently has approximately 11.5 million subscribers; over half of the population of Australia, and the average player usually plays about seventeen hours per week. When you average that out an average player spends around two and a half hours in a day on WoW. This may not seem like a problem, but these are the average players. The problem with online gaming comes from the individuals that spend ninety plus hours in a week playing WoW. The health and psychological effects of excessive game play that stem from Wow are fast becoming more of an issue in today’s society; starvation, depression and neglecting real life are some of the most common issues that stem from excessive play on WoW.

Rules For Using Numbers

Rule 1. The numbers one through ten should be spelled out; use figures for numbers greater than ten.

Rule 2. With a group of related numbers where one number is above 10 in a sentence, write the numbers all in figures. Use words if all related numbers are 10 or below.

Rule 3. If the numbers are unrelated, then you may use both figures and words. One through ten should again be spelled out.

Rule 4. Always spell out simple fractions and use hyphens with them.

Rule 5. A mixed fraction can be expressed in figures unless it is the first word of a sentence.

Rule 6. The simplest way to express large numbers is best but be careful to be consistent within a sentence.

Rule 7. Write decimals in figures. Put a zero in front of a decimal unless the decimal itself begins with a zero.

Rule 8. When writing out large numbers of five or more digits before the decimal point, use a comma where the comma would appear in the figure format. Use the word and only where the decimal point appears in the figure format.

Rule 9. The following examples apply when using dates:

The meeting is scheduled for June 30.

The meeting is scheduled for the 30th of June.

We have had tricks played on us on April 1.

The 1st of April puts some people on edge.

Rule 10. Hyphenate all compound numbers from twenty-one through ninety-nine.

http://www.writeshop.com/bluebooksample.htm

Who's Black, Who's White, Who cares?

This story was boring, and I had a hard time following it through to the end. Maybe this is because of where I was raised. You don't see a lot of black people around here and when I do what difference does it make? I have no opinion of them if I don't know them. I don't have an opinion of a white person if i don't know them.
However, it was interesting to me in the very beginning before I felt like Steele kept going on and on and on about something I had absolutely no interest in at all because I am in a History class right now learning about the Civil War. The most optimistic thought I had on this story is "huh, I guess racism is still pretty big with some people." Another thing I noticed is that Steele says "The class is afraid to confront the reality of racism". According to my history teacher that was the largest issue between the north and the south for a long time. No one wanted to confront the issue because they were afraid of what would happen. Well, it did. Its called the civil war and last I knew... North won, slavery went away and everyone should probably get over it.
Steele said that whites feel the need to prove their innocents. Funny! I wasn't alive, I didn't do it. Go get mad at all the dead people. I'm not taking a side because of the color of my skin.
Seriously, there has to be a point where people can just get over it!

Breather Assignment

Critical Care: The meaning beyond

Perhaps if God had not wanted us to act as spokes men in his place he would have never given us the power. This is a legitimate argument that doctors face on a daily basis while working with the sick and dying that no longer have the will to live. When one lives their lives day in and day out on machines that keep them alive because their own bodies can no longer function then who can complain that they no longer have the will to live? While watching the movie Critical Care and analyzing the patience in it the questions were clear. At what point should the doctors and nurses take matters into their own hands and relieve the suffering people from their misery? Is this decision morally wrong for them to take into their own hands? Who should decide; the family members or the ones at the hospital spending their last moments with the patients and see what they are going through? Last of all, to what extent are these decision made? Exactly how much do these decisions depend on what the financial status of the family is? These questions are heavy questions, but often they are presented to individuals that are in the health care business and can prove to carry quite a heavy load.

In the movie Critical Care there was one patient in particular that caught my attention. This was the patient played by Jeffery Wright. In this movie Wright’s character had rejected three kidney transplants and he did not want to live anymore. The nurse let him go and as he went she told him she loved him. When a person gets to that point in their lives when they truly believe they will never get better then they more than likely won’t. It takes will power from the person that is sick to get better and if one has given up then they should be able to make the decision of when they would like to go on. “Some Thai Buddhists recognize that there is a real moral distinction between "letting die" or allowing a patient to die and directly and intentionally taking life. For them, allowing a patient to die does not violate the precept and is considered an altruistic action for those involved” (Chaicharoen).

Naturally, there are pros and cons to these mercy killings. Some of the pros would be that it provides a way to relieve a person of their pain, it frees up medical funds for other people, and its about freedom of choice whether you want to live or die. Some of the cons to this is that it devalues human life, medical physicians will be directly involved with the deaths and it may cause a “slippery slope” effect (Kishore). After weighing the good and the bad the question still remains, who should be the one to decide what course of action to take? For example, in Critical Care Wright’s family wanted to keep him alive, but Wright wanted to die. Wright’s parents only saw that they wanted him better while the nurse of staff saw all his pain and suffering. A person may belong to their family in a sense, but that decision should be made by someone that knows the chances of their patients and sees exactly what the person is going through. If a person asks to die because they are through with the suffering and their chances of survival is next to impossible then that should be their choice. With this choice, naturally, comes great burden and responsibility. Thinking back on one of the pros mentioned before that these mercy killings can free up medical funds for other people this can potentially be a con too.

According to the U.S. Census in 2008 there was 355.5 billion dollars spend out of pockets of citizens for healthcare. According to Maggie Fox over 40 million people in the U.S. today cannot afford health insurance. This poses a problem with families that are not able to afford the care that their loved ones needs. It is a disturbing thought to think about how much statistics like these weigh into the decisions of whether to keep a human alive or let them go.

There are many different things to consider when faced with a decision to let someone go or continue try to keep them alive. Every case will be different and have different questions to ask. If the person is able to make that decision for them then their opinions should be heard. My dad was in a coma for over a month, my mom ended up letting him go because there was no hope he would ever come back out of it if he lived. I don’t blame my mom for making that decision, and I stand by her. I care more about my dad’s opinion than the selfish desires to be able to see him. When someone is ready to go they should be able to go. The family should know that person well enough to know what they would want for themselves and the decision should be made based on that if the patient cannot speak for themselves. Doctors should be involved in this decision too because they are the professionals and they see what the patients are going through. No one should be forced to live in a miserable state for the comfort of others.

Works Cited

Chaicharoen, Pitak. " Letting-Go or Killing: Thai Buddhist Perspectives on Euthanasia." Eubios Ethics

Institute. 1998. Eubios Ethics Institute. 29 Jun 2009 .

Kishore, Dr. Lalit. "Mercy killing: Pros and cons ." Merinews. 14 Dec 2008. Merinews. 29 Jun 2009 .

United States Census Bureau, "Personal Health Care Expenditure Projections by Source of Funds." U.S. Census 2000. 2008. United States Census Bureau, U.S. Department of Commerce. 29 Jun 2009 y.html>.

Fox, Maggie. "Over 40 million in U.S. can't afford health care: report." Reuters. 03 Dec 2007. Reuters. 29 Jun 2009 .

Two ways a woman can get hurt

Jean Kilbourne's story "Two ways a woman can get hurt" gave me a shock reaction. After I could get past what she was actually saying and start noticing things about her writing I noticed first her use of advertisements to uphold her words. She relied heavily on the different fallacies used in these ads and the suggestive nature of them.
There were times that I would wonder on some of her ads whether they could possibly be ads she had made up. I would say they were about 50/50 of whether or not she actually told us where the ads came from. Still, even with the 50% that she did cite or tell us where they came from this is a disturbing story.
Kilbourne used stacking in her story. She never presented a different side to the problems she was writing down. Perhaps that could have made her story a little better if she could have presented a different side and used what she had to show us how stupid it is to think of it in the first place.
Statistics used in this story were also shocking. Kilbourne writes "one in five of us has been the victim of rape or attempted rape, most often before our seventeenth birthday." There were many more but this one made me stop and think.
I found that Kilbourne did a very good job at keeping her article as her own. She used quotes from other places but her voice was the main one throughout the entire thing.
Near the end Kilbourne points a finger at Advertisements but states that it isn't the only problem, but an important part of it. She never gave a solution to all the issues in her piece, but they are heavily implied.
I have no doubt what Kilbourne believes should be changed in our society and strangely enough (because this has never bothered me before) I agree. I don't believe I will ever look at an ad the same way again. This is disturbing...

Could've would've should've

You should never use the words could of, would of and should of! These are not words. People often mistake could've, would've and should've for these. If you would like to use two words for these you should use could have, would have and should have.

http://grammartips.homestead.com/couldof.html

Killer Culture

Wow... The overall feeling this story gave me was the same feeling I experienced when I was a young girl. My mom told me that if I look at a boy it will lead to other things and soon I would go to hell. In short, David Kupelian reminds me of my mother.

While reading his story "Killer Culture" I noticed a few things, like, Kupelian did not do as good of a job with his cites as Kendall did in the last story. It felt (as Chelsi mentioned in class) like a lot of different voices telling me things.

Another thing I noticed about this story was there were a lot of questions. I found it interesting how Kupelian used these rhetorical questions in a way that you could think of no answers to other than exactly what he wanted you to think.

On a personal note, I found this story offensive because he bagged oh Howard Stern. We all know Howard is full of S*$& and makes a living off of being a jerk. He admits this himself! Why anyone would take what he says to heart is beyond me. His entire show is a joke and it should be taken as such.

I believe that Kupelian has taken some points that may be a small annoyance and blown them up to be something they really aren't. His religious views could be behind his extreme way of looking at the world. Throughout his story he did a lot of stacking and never presented an alternate view for his argument. At least he gave us a way to save ourselves. Lets all go join the boy scouts!!

"Alot" is not a word!

I have always used the word "alot". I have recently been noticing that everytime I write "alot" in Microsoft Word it automatically changes it to "a lot". I noticed I did this today AGAIN and thought I would share my findings in my grammar post.

http://www.grammar-monster.com/easily_confused/alot_a_lot_allot.htm

Gioia and Kendall

Money

I believe that Gioia in his poem "Money" is trying to show the emphasis we put on money. He has taken many of the slang words we have come up with throughout our history and put them all in together. Throughout the rest of the poem Gioia talks of spending money, what it makes us (rich or poor), money money money. Its always needed and it will never go away.

Framing Class, Vicarious Living, and Conspicuous Consumption

According to Diana Kendall in her story "Framing Class, Vicarious Living, and Conspicuous Consumption" the media has shaped and divided us into an upper class, poor and homeless, working class and the middle class.
The portraits painted from the media of the poor and homeless makes the public weary of them. As Kendall said they try to paint them as the "Others" or "outcasts" of our society. She mentioned that they were also viewed as being harmful to themselves.
The working class was portrayed as the laborers of our society. Media doesn't see them as something worthy of putting on television.
The media then looked at the middle class values and suggests that they hold the nation together. A few shows are played on television showing the dysfunctions of the middle class families. These families are usually quite worried about their clothing and what they have. Kendall stated in the last paragraph of the middle class families "We pledge allegiance to the mall".
Now about the rich people... of course media has all kinds of things about them all over tv, the net, pretty much anywhere you look. Americans see that as the american dream. Everyone wants to be rich so why not make people think that is what you should be?
One thing I found interesting was when Kendall talked about how the issues being shown and talked about are becoming less and less complex. She said the reason they do that is because that is what the public wants. Real issues arent talked about because the public cant handle it. Thats pretty sad if that is truly how the media sees us.
I agree with her when she says we shouldn't let the media shape us. The media is pretty messed up.

Serving in Florida

While reading Barbara Ehrenreich's story "Serving in Florida" I was relieved all over again that I went to school and got a job where I didn't have to do this everyday. I used to do the same thing while trying to get through school. I would work at Iggy's sportsgrill after school during the week and weekends I would work lunch shifts and work as a coctail waitress at Liquid Joe's at nights. I usually wasn't home until 3 or 4 in the morning. I never got a break until I got this job in the field, which I only got because I was a student at the school I am working at. Through this entire story I just kept thinking.. Wow, I've been there.
My favorite part of this story was where she said "The only thinkg to do is to treat each shift as a one-time-only emergency." and "Forget that you will have to do this again tomorrow, forget that you will have to be alert enough to dodge the drunks on the drive home tonight--- just burn, burn, burn! That mentality is the only way I made it through that period in my life.
I liked this story alot because Ehrenreich is right. As hard as college is when you finally finish your life will be better, and its worth it.

At least the stories are a little better...

John Taylor Gatto is indeed entitled to his own opinion the same as I am. Gatto is an idiot. There is always room for improvement in our school system, but I do not agree with him when he says our schools are boring and childish. What would he prefer? A country full of uneducated people? Gatto did have a lot of sources and his storty was better upheld than Moore's in "Idiot Nation". It just frustrates me that these writers all look at the bad in everything they see and tear it down. Why not work on making things better if you think you have a better idea?
I did enjoy reading Mike Rose's "I just wanna be average". Jack MacFarland reminded me of a teacher I once had. It is amazing how just one person can change and help you so much.

Your or You're?

When you are using these two words it makes it easier to remember that You're is a combination of two different words, You Are. Your is a possessive form of you.
An example of how you should use both would be...
You're crazy. (You are crazy) and May I use your computer?

Idiot Nation

I loved this story from Michael Moore! When Moore said "George W. Bush spoke proudly of having been a mediocre student at Yale. And to all the C students, I say you, too, can be President of the United States!", I laughed so hard. It is so sad, but true at the same time. Education isn't given the money and resources it needs in the United States. Teachers are not given the respect they deserve or the compensation they should have to make them really push students.
I found it very interesting when Moore said he was a college drop out. It caught my attention because he didn't drop out because he was sick of learning. He just finally hit the point where he had enough of the way things were being run. From what I understood though, was that Moore kept learning, and reading on his own. I think that is admirable.
There are many good points to this story, and there are many things that should change. I still believe, however that that it is up to the people to decide how much they will learn. School is not the only avenue of learning if you are dedicated enough to just do it.
I do not necessarily think that this was 100% believeable because it is more or less Moore's opinion, but it was funny and gave you things to think about.

Changing American Families

Judy Root Aulette's story kind of made a little mad because it hit a little close to home. I hate reading about "upper class" families because they are always so uptight and stuck on themselves. Aulette stated about the upper class's view on marriage having to "be withone's class". What ever happened to marrying for love like the working class? I hate the attitude rich people have on life. People are people no matter what they have in their bank accounts!

While the stuck up upper class people are sitting there judging the middle class, the middle class are moving around to find better jobs so they can keep their homes ect. An interesting thing from the middle class section was that family ties were not so important to them. Could this be because they can't say where they will end up at tomorrow because they can't say where work will be?

Judging from her story I would rather be in the working class section. I would rather marry for love and have my family close to me than have money I don't even know what to do with. I did hate the way that the different races were described though. Life would be so much better if people would quit looking at everyone else and started minding their own business. It would give them much more time to focus on their own lives.

What we really miss about the 1950s

In Stephanie Coontz story she expresses how she felt that the 1950s was the best time to raise a family. In her story she talks about how her mother marched down to the public library and tells the librarian to never tell her daughter what she can and cannot read. I found this interesting because she said that she could never do that now with her son and I agree. I got the impression from her that the 1950s were so much more relaxed than things are now. Parents constantly have to worry about their children accessing information on the net, or what they see on TV. How did everything get so corrupt that these have to be a constant worry to parents?

Everything seemed so much better in the 1950s. From the family values, and trust in the government, economy, ect. families seemed to have a much easier time. Media was a large part of it all too. Most shows on TV showed "perfect" families and taught such good morals that families would try to pattern themselves after them.

I personally would not like living in the 1950's based off of her story. It seems to uniform, controlling and so much is expected out of you. I like going to school and working and living my own life without people thinking I should be something else.

Grammar Post

Something that I have found myself doing for years would be using i.e. and e.g. wrong.
For example, I would say "you can find out what you need to solve your problem by using a search engine (i.e., Google). In an example like that I should have been using (e.g., Google).
i.e. means "that is", e.g. means "for example". Also remember that when you use them you should always follow them both with a comma.

About Me

My name is Rose Cooke. I am 24 years old. I started at Dixie College last January. I am going for my degree in Business Administration and a minor in Visual Technology. I just moved to St. George from Salt Lake City last August where I got my last degree in Computer Science. Unfortunately I took it at a business college so now I have to redo all of my generals and it upsets me, but I will get over it I am sure. :P
I have three brothers and lots of cousins here so I am glad to be back in St. George with them!
I look forward to getting to know you all in this class too.