We were given to articles to read for homework and we needed to discuss how these articles will relate to our next assignment. We are conducting research based on the movie Food Inc. We are able to choose our own route and what exactly we want to discover about the food industry.
        The first article we had to read was an Intro to Qualitative Research. Hancock's definition of qualitative research is concerned with finding the answers to questions which begin with: why? how? in what way? Quantitative research, on the other hand, is more concerned with questions about: how much? how many? how often? to what extent? Although we are not sure what we are researching yet, these two different research methods apply to the way that we will research. Our interviews will be mostly composed of questions beginning with how?, why? and in what way? Qualitative research is concerned with the opinions, experiences and feelings of individuals producing subjective data. These questions will help guide how our interview will go. The answers will be based on the interviewee's opinions, experiences and feelings. 
        The second article was Situating Narrative Inquiry. There are four components of a Situational Narrative Inquiry according to Pinnegar and Daynes. The four turns are a change in the relationship between the researcher and the researched; a move from the use of number toward the use of words as data; a change from a focus on the general and universal toward the local and specific; and a widening in acceptance of alternative epistemologies or ways of knowing. When conducting research and interviews, our knowledge on the subject will widen and we will get a better understanding of the material. The data we collect will help us come to a conclusion and it will answer our posed research question. Once we figure out what we are going to research these terms will definitely apply throughout our project.
 
This past week has been extremely eye opening for me! Wow. I never really knew how bad our food was for us! I can honestly say that I haven't eaten meat in the past week due to watching the movie Food Inc. and reading the articles written by Michael Pollan and Wendell Berry. This has opened me up to a whole new world of eating healthy. I have been sticking to fruits, vegetables, and lots of fish. It's not even difficult for me. This weekend my friends had a BBQ and they were all eating hotdogs  and hamburgers and I stayed far away. I almost wanted to throw up. I couldn't even look at the burgers knowing what is actually put into them. I'm usually really addicted to eating chicken, I think I'll be able to get used to it but if I need to, I think that I might try and stick to getting chicken from a poultry farm. The Pleasures of Eating Healthy gave us a ton of suggestions. After reading this I decided I'm going to contribute some plants to our garden at my house this summer. My mom already has tomato plants and cucumbers, but I want to add more vegetables. I'm excited to start this new healthy lifestyle!
 
The past two days in class we have been watching Food Inc. It has opened my mind up to the food industry and it showed me what we are really consuming every day! Professor Mangini gave us a list of 17 discussion questions and we were to answer three of them. Here are the ones that I chose to discuss!

1. (3)Whose responsibility do you think it is to inform us about what is in our food? I believe it is the producer’s responsibility because they are the ones creating the food and adding all of the stuff that we are unaware of.

2. (9)Do you think eating healthy should be a right, a responsibility, or a privilege? I think eating healthy should be a right, but also a responsibility. Some people just don’t enjoy healthy foods, but they should still have the choice to do so. The prices of healthy foods are just so high and it makes it really hard for people to afford vegetables and fruits. Like the movie said, its cheaper to buy a bag of chips than it is to buy carrots, and thats just wrong. It shouldn't matter what your family's income is, you should still be able to have the right to a healthy life. There is no reason that processed foods should be healthier than fruits and vegetables that come from the ground. It's not fair for the families who are under privileged.

3. (17)There is a lot of research showing that healthful food makes people feel better, have more energy, and stay well. Do you think if more people knew about this research, they would make different choices? Yes. I had a personal experience with this. I never really liked eating healthy foods when I was in high school. I always chose eating chips or pretzels over fruits and veggies. My mom always told me to start eating better but it wasn’t until after I had gained some weight that I started listening to her. I started weight watchers and I began eating really healthy and suddenly I had way more energy and the fat was melting off of me. I was amazed. I never knew that eating healthy had such an effect on so many parts of your body. My mind felt clearer, my body had more energy, and I had lost weight. I believe if more people were informed like me, they would make better choices.


 
3 days of class presentations and we're still not done! Everyone is doing such a nice job with their twitterives and I'm really impressed! Today we had five presentations and they all went really well.

First up was Sam C. her twitterive was about her family and her family room. I definitely think she has a great idea and lots of info for her twitterive, but she's just a little lost. Some people in our class suggested that she uses more organization in her twitterive and instead of writing the messages out, she could re-create the facebook messages between her brother and her. I also think that she should include more about her mom and other siblings. As a suggestion, I said to possibly sit down and jot some feelings down about each person or situation within her twitterive and she could create a wordle or a found poem out of those feelings.

Next was Alexa. her twitterive was about her search for finding the perfect home. She starts her twitterive off with a journal entry from when she was little about how often she moved and how she felt about it. I think she should include more about journal entries throughout this whole twitterive and this could possibly be her repetend. It was also suggested that she reorganize the conversations with her mom and fiance about the different houses.
Sam O's twitterive was excellent. Our professor complimented her many times and I think our whole class was really impressed. Her twitterive was about her Grandpa's life and how unfortunate it was that she never got to meet him. Sam included so much about her grandpa's life and how great of a man he was. I loved that at the end she tied in her life with her grandpa's life by setting a picture of each of them with words that describe both of them. 

Last was Michael. His place was a sort of distance or loss. He said that he thought he was crazy but I totally got what he was going for. The non fiction piece that he read to our class before presenting his twitterive was excellent. I loved the two videos that he created on Youtube. He has one where he was singing and he included his mess-ups because he wanted us to get the imperfections. I loved that. He also added a video of a collaboration of voicemails and radio-talk. It was great and really gave us the feeling of distance. 
 
Todays presentations went really well. Some of them really touched me and had a great effect on me. I was surprised by how many people opened up to our class and put their story out there.
Steph: Steph, Great Job! I loved how you set up your twitterive. It was very organized with different pages and I liked how you stuck with the theme of dance for each title. I got chocked up a little bit when you started talking about how dance is your way of dealing with tourettes. I could relate with you somewhat because softball is my place of comfort and I feel at home when I'm on the field. I think your video had a great effect to show how much it truly means to you.
Darren: Darren's Twitterive took a different approach and I really enjoyed it. His twitterive wasnt necessarily about a place, but it was a dream. It was about a dream of becoming younger again. I loved how you had one of your students walk around with your Flip so we could see the world from a child's perspective. Good job!
David: David's Twitterive. Wow. Where do I begin? This Twitterive really touched me. I teared up multiple times throughout this presentation. David spoke about his journey of overcoming cancer. He was diagnosed his senior year of high school. The facts with the prezi were really interesting and I loved how he kept the humor throughout his entire Twitterive. It kept it somewhat light hearted and really showed us his personality. One suggestion I really agreed with was to include more about his parents and what they had to go through throughout this process. Great Job!
Katie: Katie's Twitterive is about her relationship with her father, or lack of relationship. I really liked the multiple modes that you used to tell your story. I liked the end quote that said, next stop, forgiveness. I think you should stick with the theme of the road or journey. I think you should talk more about your family members and your siblings. I also suggested in class that you should maybe include what you thought your dad's "sickness" was as a child. Great job though! Definitely on the right track!
 
Technology has had a great impact on my writing this semester! When constructing my Twitterive, there have been many useful technologies that helped me make my story. The most technology has been the screenshot. I never knew how to do a screenshot before, but I always saw other people posting bits of pictures or facebook comments. Finally, I decided to do a little research and I figured out how to do one! Thank god I did because most of my Twitterive is made up of screenshots of quotes and pictures!

I decided to construct a list of the many different technologies that have helped me create my Twitterive:


Twitter
Weebly
YouTube
Screenshots
Slideshow
Pictures
Wordle
Word

Without all of these technologies, my Twitterive would be very boring and I wouldn't be able to make my story as colorful and detailed!