MIDTERM

Dear friend,
I am now half-way finished with my ENGL 1102 class. This semester has gone very smoothly, and I'm surprised at how far our class has come thus far. I've learned so many things; personal things about myself, useful things I can take into my next classes, and interesting information that will help me at some point in life. I learned about myself, specifically when writing my first essay: "What's It Like to be You?" I never really thought about the personal things that I was writing, which showed me how much farther I could expand my thought process when I know I need to put something down on paper. I know that I now have a more defined picture of who I am as a person. At our age, it is so important not to lose grasp on what kind of person you are and who you want to become.
I didn't only explore new territories of myself. The author of our book, David Seidel, came to visit and taught us how to meditate. Its one thing to read about and watch someone else engage in meditation, but experiencing it personally is completely different. I wish I could better explain in words how calming of an experience it is, yet its so simple. I really enjoyed having him come visit our class.
After choosing a health-related inquiry to write about throughout the entirity of the semester, I've also learned a lot about my topic question: Do vaccines cause autism in young children? I can't say I'm an expert, but I am comfortable with having an educated discussion about the topic, reassured that I actually know what I'm talking about. May it be personal, academic, or just common knowledge I should know -- I can't wait to tell you about what else I learn from the rest of ENGL 1102.
Sincerely,
Holly Bailes


My favorite assignment in this class so far has been the "What's It Like to be You" essay. I wrote this piece in response to David Seidel's inquiry in his book, Peace Butter and Jelly. Figuring out exactly what it is like to be yourself is surprisingly difficult. I wasn't quite sure what to write about in my first draft; I tried to write about generic areas of life that I assumed other students would include in their essays as well (like ususal, taking the safe route). After I read my first draft outloud, however, it became clear that it was not up to my standards, and it really did not describe what its like to be me. After reading the "Where I'm From" poem with the class, I thought that the best way to give a clear depiction of myself would be to include a poem about where I come from, simply to give the background information my audience needed to feel comfortably informed. That poem might be the highlight of this semester for me. It may not be very well-written, but I am still very proud of myself for actually taking a risk in my writing by incorporating it into one of my essays. The risk paid off, and I am proud of the essay I have produced thus far.
I will need to revise this again before I turn in my final portfolio, because a few things have happened in my life since then. Even if my audience doesn't read my final draft, I will feel better knowing that I have updated it, and that I know exactly what it's like to be me.

I thought that incorporating Peace Butter and Jelly into our curriculum was a useful idea. It was difficult to see how it would tie into what we were doing in the class at first, but after getting a little farther into the book, the connections became clear. The poems were my favorite part of the book, and the simplicity of David Seidel's poems helped inspire me to write the poem I put in my first essay. I think it would be useful to have future ENGL 1102 classes read this book.

Haiku for 1st half of ENGL 1102:

I have actually

had to set foot inside of

Atkins Library.

:o

4th blog

This blogging experience has actually been very fun. I used to keep on online journal but I've been so busy, I haven't had time to keep up with it anymore. It's nice to come back to this kind of activity and really spend some time thinking and putting down my thoughts. I type a lot faster than I can write, so this is an easy way to ensure that my hands are keeping up with my brain!
I probably will keep this blog strictly for the class, but I would also love for others to read about my topic and become aware of an important concept. It would be interesting to have random people comment on my blogs and share their own thoughts, just for brainstorming purposes. And maybe some practice at counterarguing. I know I might not advertize this blog, but it's still nice to know that other people can read what I've written and share their own thoughts on it.
When this blogging thingy was first assigned, I honestly thought it was going to be a waste of time (I hate to say that) but I proved myself wrong. I thought it would be redundant to write about something I'm writing about, but that's the entire point of the assignment. It's actually been very helpful to reflect on the progress I've made since I chose this topic.

3rd blog

I haven't really thought about who my audience will be after I finish this paper, but  I would want parents of small children to know about my topic. I think it's important for parents to be sure of what exactly is in these shots that are being given to their children, and make them aware of the possibility of some kind of side effect or disorder resulting from them.
This topic is relevant to the time period, because the number of children diagnosed with autism has risen from 1 in 10,000 children to 1 in 250 -- that's scary. Is this increase in the number of children with autism a result of more vaccines given to small children? So far, all of my sources think so.
I am invested in this topic because of my favorite high school teacher; her son was born healthy, learned to walk and speak at an average age, but then lost his ability to communicate, interpret his surroundings, and speak at all. Raising awareness is important. The toll that this disease has taken on my teacher and all other parents of autistic children is astounding, and there should be more research into this debate in order to protect more famies.
I really haven't seen many opposing viewpoints, which was a problem that I listed in my previous blogs. Obviously pediatricians do not think that these vaccines are harmful, because they are administering them to young children. But as far as a written source, I still haven't found very much.
One thing that really stood out to me from my research was a story about a doctor who lost his job for speaking up about the possible linkage between autism and vaccines. I don't think it's fair that he lost his job for speaking up, but it is interesting to see that the hospital decided to fire him.
I love Janie Hatley's research topic. Its important to research something that is important to the writer on a personal level, and that's why her topic is so great. I'm curious as to how she will go about turning the topic question into some kind of argument format.

2nd blog

Well apparently it didn't save this the last time I wrote it, so...take two :(

The most interesting source I had found was the review of a meeting held by the US House of Representatives. The main speaker told the audience about his grandchild, who he believes developed autism from a flu vaccine, so he was very adamant about the subject. The meeting went on as he shared many statistics from the CDC (Center for Disease Control) and explained that not enough funding has been provided for more research into the possible dangers of vaccines.

My topic hasn't really changed since I've started researching, because there is enough conversation about this topic going around. I don't really think I should narrow my topic down to a certain type of vaccine, because many of them have thimerosal (the potentially-harmful preservative found in a lot of vaccines).

The only trouble I've had with this assignment thus far is finding sources to challenge the argument that vaccines may cause autism. It's very easy to find people that believe vaccines are harmful, but it's a little harder to research evidence showing that they are not harmful.

First Blog...How's it going?

First blog...this is a lot like LiveJournal. I like it!

For the semester-long inquiry, I'll be questioning the linkage between vaccines and autism. A high school teacher I had influenced me to choose this topic, because her son was diagnosed with autism shortly after he recieved some kind of vaccination (I don't remember for what), and that scared the crap out of me.

People should DEFINITELY care about this topic, because there is so much controversy surrounding it. Are doctors giving us shots filled with substances (mercury) that could potentially cause more harm than help? My mom is all-about whatever the doctor says, and my dad thinks some vaccines are just unneccesary. Everyone stands in a different position regarding this topic, and I like that.

In my research, I expect to find a lot of contradicting statements. I have a feeling doctors will be endorsing the continuation of vaccinations, and people who have loved ones suffering from autism will likely tell how they believe their lives were changed by a shot the doctor administered.

I have not conducted enough research to give you a definite standing point on how I feel about this topic, but I'm more inclined to lean towards the anti-vaccination side. There is a lot of evidence pointing towards a possible link between vaccines and autism (as well as ADD and other medical conditions), and my high school teacher was very close to me, so that's probably influencing my standing point as well.

A question I have for Ms. Ingram: I am considering re-connecting with that high school teacher and possibly conducting an interview, but I'm not entirely sure if I am allowed to count that as a source, because she isn't a "scholarly resource" I suppose. However, I think having a personal story to tell would add some flair to this inquiry, and maybe I could interview a doctor or some other health-related official to give his or her standpoint as well.