Soundtrack of my Life

1) "Slow Poke" - Pee Wee King
This song is a perfect description of me. I am always late to everything and never in a hurry.

2) "Let it Snow" - Dean Martin
My favorite Christmas song of all time. Christmas is my favorite holiday and I start listening to this song right around Halloween. Also, I love snow and being trapped inside because of a snow storm.

3) "Dat New New"- Kid Cudi
I listen to this song as a run or work out. There is just something motivating about words describing marijuana and not caring about anything.

4) "The Sun"- Maroon 5
The message of this song reminds me that growing up is hard, but you have to do it, and you will make it through.

5) "Eenie Meenie" - Justin Bieber
Justin Bieber is my favorite man in the whole world. Yes that sounds shallow, but I love him! I have seen him in concert twice, and went to the midnight showing of Never Say Never. I also did my AP Spanish passion project on my love for Justin Bieber.

6) "Dickhead" - Kate Nash
This feminist song consists of the phrases, "Why you being a dickhead for. Stop being a dickhead. Why you being a dick head for, your just fucking up the situations". I once played this song in the car when my boyfriend and I were in a fight and both in the car. It was a wonderful choice.

Research Practice

"Students beginning their educational journeys in community colleges, as well as students from less advantaged family backgrounds, are more likely to dedicate longer hours to paid employment, which has negative consequences for degree attainment" (Roksa, 2010, p. 304 ).

Roksa, J. (2010). Differentiation and work: Inequality in degree. High Education, 61, 293-308. doi:
          10.1007/s10734-010- 9378-7

          This source is a scholarly article from a journal. I found it with the help of a librarian at Merit Library. This source contains a literature review, data, and results relating to the topic of job placement. It compares the employment rates for students that obtained degrees at community colleges of 4- year public universities and provides some reasons for the results. This is a very solid source. The author is from the department of Sociology at the University of Virginia and provides contact information if one needed to reach the author. Also a bibliography is included. I can use this quote to show that where a person obtains their degree from actually does have an effect on job placement after college.



"At most public 4-year institutions, tuition charges are generally higher for out-of-state students than for in-state residents, reflecting the state subsidies public institutions receive. In 2007–08, the average in-state tuition was $6,200 and the average out-of-state tuition was $15,100 for full-time undergraduates enrolled in public 4-year institutions"
(Chang Wei, 2010, P. 6).

U.S. Department of Education. (2010). What is the price of college? Total, net, and out-of-pocket
            prices in 2001-08 (NCES Publication No. 2011-175). Retrieved from National Center for 
           Education Statistics website: http://nces.ed.gov/pubsearch/pubsinfo.asp?pubid=2011175

           This source contains information on costs of 4-year universities and statics of how much students actually pay relating to grants, loans, and income. This source is very solid. It is from a government institution, is peer reviewed, and contains references. I will use this source when comparing costs of attending different colleges to obtain a undergraduate degree and follow that up by deciding if the cost is worth it based on any extra opportunities given.

Ron's Last Blog: Chapter 10 Summary "The Avoidable Death of Rebecca Riley"

           Through carful interviewing, observing, and analyzing, Jon Ronson is finally realizing the concept of over diagnosing. Throughout the whole chapter Jon is trying to make this known to the reader as he introduces the idea to other characters and psychiatric practices within the book. The main point is that psychiatric diagnoses are becoming normal and the DSM has too many checklists. People, children is the main focus of this chapter, are being diagnosed with a disorder that they probably don't even have. The story of Rebbecca Riley supports this claim. The 4-year-old child dies because of overdosing on Medications given by her parents. When later asked, the mother said that there was probably nothing wrong with her daughter. Also, Ronson uses the story of Gary Maier and the drug companies to show that the main focus of a drug company now is to market their product, not treat patients. In addition, this chapter explains the idea of diagnosing a person with a disorder allows them to feel more normal and accepted because they can relate with others that have the same disorder.
           Overall I really enjoyed this book. The point brought up in the last chapter about if we should focus on a persons good aspects or the bad ones? Ironically in the examples, when focusing on the bad aspects it led to assumptions of psychopathy. I also thought it was confusing to bring the characters and book of nothingness from the first part of the book back up at the end. In addition, Gary Maier doesn't support drug companies, he thinks they are only interested in selling products, not treating patients. I just learned about this in human sexuality lecture. I completely agree with this concept and I am completely against taking pills.

Sixth Blog Assignment: Chapter 8 Summary "The Madness of David Shayler"

        In this chapter, Jon Ron builds and successfully provides evidence for the idea he describes in the end of the last chapter about the right sort of madness. Ron Ron discovers that the people that are the right sort of mad are just a tiny bit madder than how mad the average person fears he or she is becoming. And this madness is easy to recognize by the average people. The people that are the right sort of madness are just a little bit more anxious or paranoid then us, yet we find this entertaining and comforting that we are not as mad as them. Ron discovers this by analyzing the conspiracy theories of David Shayler that got the most media attention. The story about the 9/11 planes as holograms received the most media because it was crazier and less dry then his theory on July 7th being an inside job, but it was more believable then him being the Messiah.
       Reflecting on chapters 8 and 9, I completly agree with Ron's idea on the right sort of crazy. I find myself thinking I have gone crazy many times a day just beacuse of stress. Also, like he expresses, I am guilty of watching Wife Swap and Supernanny just to make me feel better about my life. Jon also provides the reader with little inserts of the thoughts going on inside his head. This helps the reader better understand his character and the level of his anxiety disorder. In chapter 9, as Bob and Jon accuss the gatekeeper as a psychopath because of his lack of empathy, I began to think that the checklist is being abused and to many people are being labled as psychopaths. Also, I was really disturrbed by the story about the brood mare being impregnated by the chief constable and freemasons, followed by ripping out the fetus for a sacrifice. I find sex crimes to be the most disturbing.

Fifth Blog Assignment: Plagiarism "Something borrowed"

         In Malcolm Gladwell's "Something Borrowed" the main focus is dealing with the idea that plagiarism is a difficult concept because it is hard to label an idea as property of a person that created the idea. He argues that words do not always belong to the person wrote them. In fact, in some cases, such as music and medical findings, using the ideas from another can actually be beneficial in improving future findings and creations. However, sometimes plagiarism is always wrong. For example, plagiarising literature always seems to be ethically incorrect. Gladwell uses a narrative about a women who was plagiarised as the main evidence when getting these points across. He also uses the Standford law as well as examples of the positive and negative effects of plagiarising.
         In my opinion, this is a very creative piece. It shows a side of plagiarism that I have never considered before. A quote that clearly expresses this new argument is from page 110 and states, "A successful music executive has to understand the distinction between borrowing that is transformative and borrowing that is merely derivative". This reading didn't really change any of my opinions on Plagiarism. I still think all stealing is wrong; however, I am curious to know how using the ideas of others works in the music industry and medical field.

Fourth Blog Assignment: Chapter 7 Summary "The Right Sort of Madness"

          In this chapter, Ronson just returns from Florida where he interviewed Al Dunlap in hopes of gaining more information on psychopathic CEOs. After meeting with a Adam Curtis, a friend and documentary maker, Jon begins to question his own sanity and journalistic style. A specific quote from Adam that led to this questioning is, "we all do it. We wait for the gems. And the gems invariably turn out to be the madness." After deciding that some journalists try to find people with mental disorders because they are their best interviewees, Ronson tries to justify this behavior by providing the example of Charlotte Scott. He feels that this women does something worse for a career. Charlotte answered phones for a TV show hot line and asked these people what medications he or she is taking. Her job was to find contestants that were "just mad enough".
          Reflecting on chapters 6 and 7, I found the research methods of Ronson to be very interesting. Are his methods ethical? Ronson's interviewees are usually not aware of his true motives relating to psychopathy. I also found it very interesting that he began to question his career and felt comfort in finding someone with a career that completed actions of a more destructive means then the ones he participated in. This may also be a result of his anxiety disorder. In chapter 7, we are also first introduced to his wife, Elaine. This introduction brings a more personal connection between the reader and Ronson. Finally, I thought it was odd the way Ronson judged Al's wife. He states, "what sort of a women loved a man like that." Then later we learn that Ronson's wife now can identify lots of people they know as psychopaths. This shows the support she has for her husbands unique obsessions.

Third Blog Assignment: Research Question

What are the advantages and disadvantages of attending a university verses the advantages and disadvantages of attending a community college?

Does the college you attend really have a huge impact on the future of an individual and his or her ability to obtain a job after graduation?

           I have chosen this question because, as a freshmen in college, I just went through the process of finding the right school for me, but I ran out of time to do research on the above concept involved with choosing a college. I will start looking for answers by searching for primary sources on the Internet and conducting interviews with a variety of diverse college graduates. The answer to this question will show that both types of schools will have advantages and disadvantages, as well as people living successful lives as graduates from both. With this said, I plan to look more into what each type of school has to offer for a student. I may run into possible problems regarding the fact that stating which type is better can often be seen as an opinion. Also, there are private and public universities. This may involve more research then I first suspected.

Second Blog Assignment: Chapter 4 Summary "The Psychopath Test"

         In this particular chapter, Jon Ronson continues to gain as much information as he can about psychopaths in hopes of determining if Tony is a psychopath, or if indeed he really is falsely accused. Jon meets with many experts on the subject. The main one from this chapter is Bob Hare, the creator of the PCL-R checklist and influence man in the research done on psychopaths. Bob's research is more on detection of psychopathy, not how to cure it. First, he performed the electric shock test on volunteers, both psychopaths and non-psychopaths. He found that the psychopaths never feared what was coming, while the non-psychopaths were scared shown by much perspiration. His next experiment consisted of the Startle Reflex Test. After being shown gruesome images, the psychopath would remain calm and show little to  no emotion. Then in 1975 Bob organized with many researchers and psychiatrists to observe the behaviors of a psychopath using the PCL-R checklist. By the end of the chapter, Jon came to understand Bob and Martha's theory about a malfunctioning relationship between the amygdala ant the central nervous system of a psychopath, and now has a strong desire to discover and research psychopaths that hold high positions of power in society and the negative effects this may be causing.
         In my opinion, it is quite scary to think that psychopaths could be the politicians and CEOs in our current society. It also unreal that a person has difficulty feeling any emotion and will stop at nothing to gain the maximum amount of power. In these two chapters it was also alto easier to read  about gruesome images, especially the bloodbaths of Constant's reign, because they are expected to be included and I mentally prepared myself for them. I also find it interesting that Jon Ronson is researching a mental disorder when he has a type of mental disorder himself. This idea occurs again at the end of chapter 4 when he describes that his "desire to unearth it outweighed any anxieties that were bubbling up inside". I thought the fake crying scene in chapter 5 was extremely odd, but it was a good example of what Bob said about psychopaths often faking emotion.

First Blog Assignment: Chapter 3 Summary "Psychopaths Dream in Black and White"

           In this chapter, Jon Ronson becomes interested in the idea of a cure for psychopaths. He comes across a man a man named Elliott Barker, a psychiatrist who believed he had the answer. After traveling to many therapeutic communities, Elliott got a job at Oak Hospital for the criminally insane. With a group of psychopaths and some LSD, he decided to take a risk and try out the first nude psychotherapy session for criminal psychopaths. The patients were challenged to tap into their deepest emotions without any distractions. Soon after, Gary Maier, a man that looked like a long-haired hippie, took Elliott's place and continued on with the research. One concept discovered was that schizophrenics dreamed a lot and often in color, while psychopaths were lucky if they dreamed at all. At first, this new therapy seemed to work wonders and be a great success. Once research was actually done, it turned out that 80% of the patients that went through Elliott's program re-offended once they were released to the outside world. In the past, only 60% of patients re-offended. This program had made the psychopaths worse and taught them how to better manipulate.
           In my opinion, this chapter was very uncomfortable. The descriptions and stories of the patients are very well written and almost seemed real. I could smell the shit and got shivers after reading about rape. Also, at points throughout the chapter I thought I would have trouble falling asleep later that night due to repulsing images dancing around in my head. All in all, I think this chapter is needed for the overall tone of the book. It shows how everything in life isn't always pleasant and wonderful. Problems do exist and there are people in the world that dedicate their lives to solving these problems for the better good of humans.

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