To me truth is anything that is valid and transparent. It is never-changing and can sometimes be a harsh reality. As they say, "the truth hurts". But sometimes it doesn't have to be painful. Sometimes it can be embraced for the betterment of ourselves and others. Truth can also be the values that we hold dare to us, or how we see the world around us. There are other times where truths or another person truths may not actually be true, only a bias that a person holds to be true because the world and all of it's fine nuances is hard to navigate so they see everything as black and white to make it easier for themselves. But taking the easy way out of things is usually never the way to go. We be able to hold our truths as high as their validity is, not how we personally feel about things.
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Bryan A. Brown Watch their diet or watch men riot 4/30/15
Sabatino Mangini ENG COMP I A young man lays with his back on his bed. He is in a confined space, a cell no bigger than 20x20 feet. He is engulfed in an abyss, nothing but darkness embracing him. He is locked away for 23 out of 24 hours in a day. It’s been over a week since the last time he has been out. He can’t tell when it’s night or when it’s day, only the random times he is let out his cell. Time flows slowly expect when he is let out so that he can do his ADLs. A perpetual pungent smell reminds him that the cell hasn’t been cleaned since its unholy conception. Worst of all for him, it’s as if he just woke one day and just appeared here, which makes the experience all the more terrifying. What he does know at least is that this misery has no end in sight. He tries to get answers from the rare interactions he has with individuals but all they do is stare at him, call him crazy, and give him strange pills and scarps for some type of nourishment. Nourishment that, in a way, could have saved him from himself or dulled his afflictions that perturbed him so well that it lead him here. What I am writing about is a person that I have no affiliation with, only a script that I have seen on television. However, these scripts are based on true stories. A growing number of research reports suggests that a poor diet is a contributing factor for an inmate’s mental disorder, which may have played a major role in their very incarceration. The main mental disorders that I would like to focus on are the ones that law abiding deal with on a day-to-day basis and some that we don’t: Anxiety, depression, mania, and schizophrenia. Before I talk about these mental disorders and the certain diets that may stimulate them, it is appropriate to talk about the prison populous represented by the mentally ill. Prisons and jails are overpopulated and overstressed from the constant addition of new prisoners. Research suggests that many individuals incarcerated suffer from mental illness. According to the Bureau of Justice Statics Special Report on “Mental Health Problems of Prison and Jail Inmates” (James, Glaze), at midyear 2005 more than half of all prison and jail inmates had a mental health problem, including Proposal: The topic that I have chosen to write about for my I-Search paper is the percentage of inmates with mental disorders and how their diets have played a role in their mental status. I have chosen to write about this because I'm combining to issues that are very closely related to me. I have many people in my family and know of many people who have, at some point in their lives been incarcerated. I am in no way saying that they didn't deserve to be incarcerated. They did the crime, which means that they have to do time. What I can not comprehend is the fact that the overwhelming majority of individuals who are not getting the help that they need because they are busy filling the cells for those actual criminals. They are more of a danger to themselves than to others, which is why the prison suicide rate is so astronomically high. The intent doesn't matter as long as the actions that got that person locked up is substantiated with proof. The other issue intertwined with my topic is the diet of the said individuals. Upon thought, one would believe that it is common sense that the body (or in this case the brain) can not function to its utmost capacity without the proper nutrients and minerals that it needs. Yet this side of person's physical physiology that many health professions rarely, if ever, take into account. Poverty and malnourishment go hand-and-hand. You can almost not found one without the other. My research supported my claim fully. Many of the mentally disturbed came from humble beginnings to say least and I do not believe this to be a coincidence. My main method of information gathering was the internet. Process: Much appreciation must be credited to the internet for conception of my essay. When I first tried to amass information, I wanted to use the library as my main source of data. Unfortunately to my dismay, my topic(s) had an abundance of stuff (the books that is) that made it difficult to concentrate my essay. It become too tedious so I changed my strategy and decided to strictly get info from the internet, or from word of mouth from people who have been through what I am talking about in the paper. One thing that I found useful for refining what I'm looking for through the many articles and links on the internet, I made care to be very specific about what I needed. I used key phases such as, "foods that cause mental illness", " "Percentage of inmates that suffer from mental illness", and lastly, "dispelling poverty myths". Rao, Sathyanarayana, T.S., "Understanding nutrition, depression and mental illnesses" Research from several articles suggest that many individuals incarcerated suffer from mental illness. The question that I would like to get answered, or least have a better grasp of issue, is that how a person's diet factors into that a person's mental wellness (more specific, a inmates mental health). In the beginning phases of the research portion of the project, I wanted to relay on books somewhat. As I started looking for them, founding them, and reading through them, I knew that it was too much information to digest so I decided to use online references. One of first places google brought me to was a special report written about the U.S. Department of Justice. This was an obvious choice for legitimate information with credence. I firmly believe that no one will dispute the fact that your plays a major role in your mental health. However, I feel that certain individuals don't realize the importance of a healthy diet into a person's equation mental stability. They most likely feel that only medicines will have a major impact on an inmates psych. I strongly support changing how we approach mental health or wellness in general. My first issue is that many doctors who prescribe medicine for inmates don't really go in depth on their evaluations. They don't know well the medicine may or may not have worked on the patient, any adverse reactions that the patient may have been facing, or even if the patient even needs it anymore. The system is way too filled for that much intimacy. Though I have looked in several different libraries, I have decided that most, if not all of my sources will be from reliable internet sources. I have chosen to do this because it's easier to found exactly what I'm looking for. Most books on these issues are very in depth and founding the exact information that I am looking for, through hundreds of pages, is too tedious.
In this post, I will write from a argumentative stand point for Food Matters. I will also write about my side of argument for the movie. Food Matters is a documentary that goes into detail for a novice about the constant harm we introduce into our bodies by the food we eat, and how we make it. It highlights ways we can naturally cure ourselves from many of the major causes of death, such as heart disease, just by eating well. Food Matters also describes, in my opinion, the constant misconduct of hospitals in their methods of handling care. Major point that stuck out to me was the claim that over 250,000 people will die from adverse side of drugs. The even more alarming part of this claim is that most of these adverse reactions will not be from overdosing or underdosing on the product, it will just be from doctors not knowing exactly how a specific drug will interact with a person's body chemistry. They only really know what it is supposed to do. Despite knowing this, don't ever expect these methods of operations to ever change. There are billions of dollars at stake because how expensive these toxins are and the vast majority of Americans use at least one drug. "A pill for every ill", as the saying goes. Now back to food and another claim the movie made that truly disturbed me. Most people are aware that a lot of fruits, vegetables, or just about anything we can eat, (or should know) are covered in substances that make them grow faster, and wards off bugs. These however, are toxins. It is virtually impossible to get foods that haven't been partially treated with these pesticides. A common myth that I hear a lot is that you can just wash the toxins away. However, people don't comprehend that some of these rations have been genetically method because of these chemicals. The chemicals have been embedded in the very DNA of these foods, so washing does absolutely nothing. I totally agree with the opinion of the movie. In fact, watching the movie made me truly question what I was going to school for. My whole purpose in school is to get a career that pays well while being able to truly help people. After watching the movie, I became enlightened, in a sense. To further elaborate, I have nothing against most doctors themselves personally. This is what they were taught and this is what they were taught in school that really helps and heals people. I appreciate the sincere doctors. But they are, in a lot of elements, sincerely wrong. Their whole approach of how to treat medicine is misguided. They focus too much on the medicine and not the person's habitats that are actually taking the medicine. A lot of their methods cure the symptoms, but is the problem that are causing the symptoms cured? This is the perpetual cycle that the pharmaceutical world wants us to get into unfortunately. You start with one pill and once that side effects of that pill takes place, they'll prescribe you with another pill to stop the stypmtoms of the other pill until you are taking 12 pills to start your day and personally I hate pills and I feel that is no way to live. Where does it end? Only when the patient dies, by some miracle miraculously gets cured, or they come to the realization that this treatment is not working. The 3 questions that come to mind from watching the movie are:
1. How the food we eat affects our mind and body? 2. What are the true reasons behind the United States ban on nutritional therapy? 3. When will be able to provide nutritious food that is cheap? The main premise of Food Matters is very simple. "Let thy food be thy medicine and thy medicine be thy food", is a proverb depicted in front of a picture of Hippocrates (460-370B.C.). It is one of the first scenes that viewers will be greeted with upon watching the film, summing up the tone, relevance, and message trying to be conveyed. Of the many objectives one can accomplish for their physical overall healthiness, such as exercise, regular doctor check-ups, or just avoiding certain high-risk activities, eating right and eating well is the most prominent lifestyle choice an individual can make for a longer life. While covering the abundance of essential vitamins and minerals that are lost through the lightest cooking methods (steaming), it also highlights the gross shortcomings and inadequacies of modern medicine. Food Matters mission is to address the medical world's problem with disregarding nutrition as a possible avenue for aliment, as well as to challenge America's public perception of how we look at healthcare. With the many medical professionals that are present in the film, the directors understands how difficult this issue is for viewers to believe because these beliefs are firm and has been the conventional approach to health and medicine for many years.
For class, we looked a vintage photograph and was asked what do we think that was being shown. From my prospective, it looked like a women and her young family. They were in dire straits and living in poor conditions. I thought it was a third-world country, during a time of war. In actuality, it was vintage photograph that fairly recent. It was a photo taken back in 2013 of a family in America who were leaving impoverished. I was aware of poverty in America. In fact, for a small portion of life compared to others, i was poor myself. Looking at the picture and relising
Here I will post a response to an article you have selected from Room for debate. I have chosen to write "keep those out of jail who don't need to be locked up", written by Julia M. Stasch. I choose this topic because of the personal feelings that I have on the issue. I know people and I have also been a victim of a imperfect law system where people who do serious crimes get lighter sentences then those who sell drugs. Non-violent offenders is my main reasoning. The main reason for jail and the use of jail itself has significantly changed. When it was first conceived, it was made for violent individuals who should not walk or streets and for persons who were labeled as "flight-risks", or people who police would believe would run from their charges. Now, it's simply a cage for anyone who can't afford bail and has a major trail for any reason. Almost 75 percent are held for nonviolent offenses, such as traffic violations or drug charges. Many of these individuals are often held in prison for weeks, months, or even years waiting to have to case resolved, despite the fact they are presumed innocent. The author of the article is Julia Stasch. She is the President of the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation. Formerly, as Vice President of U.S. Programs, she was responsible for US grantmaking. Prior to joining the Foundation, she worked for the the City of Chicago, first as Commissioner of the city's Department of Housing and then as Chief of Staff to Mayor Richard M. Daley. Kent Scheidegger is the legal director of the Criminal Justice Legal Foundation. He believes that jails are important part of our society. Local jails occupy an important place in the range of sanctions available in our penal system. At the low end are the alternatives to incarceration, at the upper end is state prison, and county jail is in the crucial middle. These parts do not operate independently. They depend on each other. I side on the previous in that I believe that people deserve a second chance and that some people don't necessary need incarceration, just be fined. That should only apply to nonviolent offenders however.
In this post, I will be sharing with my audience both my writing processes, as well as my products for my creative nonfiction essay: Draft 1
Draft 2 For the most part, my instructor explained to me that my draft was well developed. Even in the early stages, I was further ahead then most people would be. I scenes showed, they were all written with passion. My story had a clear and set chronology that was easy to follow and would keep readers enticed. The story itself was also exciting as I was in a crash. But the only thing that was lacking, which I figured as much, was a theme. I had no real reason behind the story. It was just a story. So after much pondering, I decided that my theme would be patience. The way my essay flows and tone of it presents, it's befitting for it to be patience. So, most likely, I plan to start my essay out with a quote or a proverb that signifies my latent empathy that slowly forms as the script transitions. Again, I do this to set a tone but to also have a duality in my writing that I hope sets me apart from other writers and keeps my reader's more focused. I also not only want to write about this feeling, I want to be better at practicing this emotion in real life. I also want my readers to participate in practicing patience because of the world that we live. I feel that patience is under-used and people are too quick to jump to conclusions. Our society demands things too quickly and the things that we should rush are delayed. This virtue is very close to my heart and I feel that it is very important to practice it. |
Bryan A. Brown
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