"No Impact Man" by Colin Beavan

     I enjoyed reading Colin Beavan's No Impact Man.  I think he had a very interesting style of writing.  I like the way he approached his subjects.  I think the way he brought in science into his book was very smart.  I think it helped show how much the Earth is in need.  Some scientists will say that he trivialized the things that are going on in the world , but to tell you the truth I for one had no idea it was this bad.  I think him explaining with science helped.  I also think Beavan got a little sidetracked at times while writing.  I think he at times went a little too far off into left field on some of the subjects he talked about.  He gave some great background on a lot of different subjects; I was not real sure where it fit in to the book.  I really enjoyed when he actually spoke about the project itself, and what he did with it and how he changed himself and his life.  I also liked how he explained how the cycle of life into his project.  This helped me comprehend a little more.  I really liked the part about him visiting the farm with the cows.  This is how I wish all animals were treated.  He describes how other farms treat cows and it can be an absolutely horrific thing.  I like that his visit shows how there are still farms that care about their animals.  I really did enjoy this book.  I look forward to seeing him speak.  I would like to know what changes he has kept in his life from the project.  I would also like to know how he travels now that he is doing this book and No Impact Project tour. 

Future Writing

     I still have not completely decided if I am going to change my line of work or not, so I am not sure if my style of writing is going to change.  By that statement I mean I came back to college to change careers.  I had decided that I was going to get out of Law Enforcement all together.  I am now not sure that I want out.  So with that being said, I am very likely to use memorandum to administrators, one day letters to the public, press releases, and maybe even one day memorandum to subordinates or employees.  Those options are all if I stay in the line of work that I am in now.  If I change the line of work I am in now to Social Work then I will most likely have memorandum to administrators, letters to clients, letters to judges, letters among colleagues, letters of support, and letters to public and legal officials.  I think this course has helped me figure out how to approach different types of scientific writing.  It helps me figure out my audience and how to approach them.

"Why Exercise Won't Make You Thin"

     I am not real sure what to think of Clouds' paper.  My whole life you hear that you need to exercise to help lose weight and get in shape. Now he is trying to convince me that working out is just going to make me fatter?  I'm not sure I believe this.  I have seen differences in myself and in other people when they work out and begin to lose weight.  I am not sure that he backs up his theories either.  He gives you different papers to read or videos to watch to try and back up his claims, but it doesn't ever say if these are reliable sources.  I have always been told that muscle weighs more than fat and I agree with that so I understand the more muscle a person builds the more it looks like you are not losing or even possibly gaining weight.  I don't think he even approaches this topic at all.  He talks about fat turning into muscle and the calories it takes to do this process, but he never approaches the topic of muscle weight.  I am not convinced by his argument.  I think he puts up a very good argument, and he tries to back it up.  I am just not totally convinced that I agree with him.  In my opinion, I believe that exercise works to help lose access weight.  I do agree with his idea that people are more hungry when they do work out and are more likely to choose the wrong foods to eat when they do go to eat.  I think he has an interesting argument; I just don't agree with it.

"Delusions of Gender" by Cordelia Fine

     To me this was a very interesting article.  I was very drawn in by it the minute I began reading it.  Most scientific articles are difficult to read and I have a hard time understanding them.  This article was easier for me to understand.  She still had lots of information in her research and she cited a lot of different studies, but it seemed like she tried to speak on a level where more people could understand her.  She makes some very interesting arguments throughout the article and backs her arguments with very good reasoning.  I really enjoyed reading the part where she is talking about equality in men and women.  She was quoting Alice Silverberg on the generation gap and equality.  It was a very true statement.  It is not something that you think about much until someone points it out to you.  Another portion that really caught my attention is in the chapter "Darkness in the Womb" she talks about testosterone levels in fetuses.  She was describing measuring the length of the child's index and ring finger to decide if the child was more masculine or feminine.  I caught myself looking at my own hands to see which one of my fingers was longer. Her style of writing was very engaging.  Even though she cites all of these different studies and different scientists and researchers she is very cautious not to talk above your head.  It makes this article a very interesting article to read and I really enjoyed reading it.  I think when I go to work tonight I am probably going to check out my coworkers hands.

Paper 2

     This paper I found was more difficult for me to write.  I am not sure why I had such a hard time with this paper but it seemed I had a harder time trying to express my point.  The first paper seemed to flow really easily and seemed to just write itself almost.  I had to keep going back and reading what I had already pointed out and try to figure out what points I was trying to make.  I am still not sure why it was so hard for me.  It could have been everything I had going on at that point in time with work and everything else, but I am always busy.  Bikes, Blues, and BBQ took a lot out of me because of all of the overtime and different thing we had going on at the department.  I do believe that being about to talk to you the short time I did about my paper did help me.  I was having a lot of trouble with my introduction paragraph.  It was way to long and I could not figure out what to take out and where to cut it down.  After talking with you in class it really helped me focus on what needed to be in that paragraph.  Once I got the introduction narrowed down it made it a lot easier to construct my paper.  I still wish I could have been in class for the rest of the peer revision workshop.  I really was looking forward to it.  It seems like every time we have one of these in class something happens at work and I end up working something like 14 hours that day.  So in the future I plan on making it if at all possible to any type of revision workshop.