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I am posting my link to my final project in the event that there is someone who can not open it any other way. Thanks for all your input this semester.

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I can not say that my idea is TED worthy. My idea came to the surface as the result of realizing something innovative that took place and further identifying with the methodology. I am not implying that I am wise, but rather that the characteristics of wisdom made the methodology possible, that being the combination of experience and knowledge. Networking and collaborating with academics created a potential formula for success. Connecting and sharing further with people of experience and expertise brought the idea to fruition, creating an incredible opportunity for thousands of trade technicians. It proves that people can accomplish amazing things if they are willing to continue learning. It is possible to become book-smart and street-smart in a crosswalk as students of life, for life.

The human metamorphosis of knowledge comes to us in stages, beginning as we learn and become book smart starting at a very young age. We continue learning as we mature into phases of adulthood, exercising options (if we are willing) to explore and experience our world, discerning intelligence from our victories as well as our defeats. Upon adding life experience to academic knowledge, we begin to weave the web of wisdom. The process is reciprocal and compounding in nature. With this type of momentum, I believe we should continue to learn as if we are going to live forever.

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I know little of media tools, and this may be the most difficult aspect of this project. I am comfortable with the Screencast-o-Matic application and have in the past used power-point, video editors, and voice over. I will likely utilize youtube for publication.

I have a number of video clips, ted talks, and pictures for reference throughout the presentation. I am still fine-tuning the process of composition, and any input from anyone reading this will be appreciated by this old gummer.

I will follow a basic format of introduction, body, and conclusion. The hook will not likely be the challenge, nor will the stories as that is what we moldy oldies bring to the table. I will need to simplify my throughline as the vastness of the topic could easily become overwhelming.

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How does Anderson define a Throughline?

It is the connecting theme that ties the narrative together. It is a strong cord or rope, onto which we attach all the elements that are part of our idea. It traces the path that the journey takes.

What elements must a Throughline contain?

Structurally, most talks take on these elements:Introduction - Context - Main Concepts - Practical Implications – Conclusion. These elements need to be constructed with simplicity and passion in mind, all tied together with a common theme.

List two quotes or examples that stick out to you.

"Great writing is all about the power of the deleted word'.' It's true of speaking too. The secret of successful talks often lies in what is left out. Less can be more.”

"Talk about what you know. Talk about what you know and love with all your heart. I want to hear about the subject that is most important to your life- not some random subject that you think will be a novelty. Bring me your well worn passion of decades, not some fresh, radical gimmick, and trust me- I will be captivated.”

According to Anderson, what should a Throughline be?

It is a strong cord or rope, onto which we attach all the elements that are part of our idea; a robust theme with an intriguing angle.

How is a Throughline different than a "topic"?

A topic is the subject of conversation or discussion. It is part of the theme represented by the throughline.

Take what you know and have heard about thesis statements and compare the two. Is a throughline the same as a thesis? How is different?

A thesis statement is a theory that is put forward as a premise to be maintained or proved, and potentially argued. A throughline is a theme or idea that runs from the beginning to the end of a presentation offering connectivity within the presentation and with the audience.

What are the components of the "right way" to write a TED Talk?

To say something interesting you have to take the time to do two things. Show why it matters and flesh out each point you make with real examples, stories, facts. It is important to slash back the range of topics covered to a single, connected thread that can be properly developed.

What is the difference between an issue and an idea?

An issue exposes a problem. An idea proposes a solution.

What comes after you have your Throughline?

A throughline  requires us to first identify an idea that can be properly unpacked in the time we have available. We should then build a structure so that every element in our talk is somehow linked to this idea.

Anderson, Chris. “TED Talks: The Official TED Guide to Public Speaking.” First Mariner, 2017.

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https://youtu.be/HZ5K8oyUwKI

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P34 - Option one Padlet Post: Written Trick w10

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P34 - Option one Padlet Post: Written Trick w10

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In my employment, I am the victim of many surveys. I also conduct many surveys as a means of determining if we are on course and what we need to do in order to improve. I work with many heavy equipment operators, and thus I ask them to complete my survey or challenge exam in an effort to know their technical level of knowledge, and then get their feedback on the survey and more specifically, their opinion on what we can improve. In this day of C-19, the computer works well for both aspects of this survey/interview process.

I give the guys 1 hour to complete as many of the 100 questions as possible. I do not score the survey, but I do look at their answers to establish where they are having issues. In the week that follows, I either meet with them or have a virtual meeting with them individually about the survey results, and gather their opinions about potential improvements we could entertain. Confidentiality is important to them, so they are not recorded, and I do not take notes in their presence.

The process works well in establishing their basic technical knowledge of a critical topic, and further provides them with the opportunity to voice their thoughts and feel included in our processes. I have multiple surveys for a host of different topics that apply to our industry. The more surveys they fill out, the better they do and the easier it is for them to open up and communicate their thoughts. Repetition equals ritual and becomes almost second nature, creating a mentally instinctive response to tasks as they happen in real time. There are many benefits to this process, and for me it brings up the level of cohesiveness within the teams.

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I began this process thinking about creating memories with cooking. My origin story about the boiling cauldron in a logging camp was a good place to launch. However, as the research assignments came rolling through, my perspective began to shift with the new information I was uncovering. Cooking could be therapeutic and cultural beyond ethnicity. Throwing music and family into the recipe creates something more than just food preparation.

“My parents were at their ropes end with me and would send me to Aunt Boo to straighten me out” (Guad). This quote got me thinking more about how cooking is therapeutic, as the author discovered with Aunt Boo in her kitchen listening to stories while preparing food. This was further developed in  The Power of Home Cooking when the author refers to “peeling the potato and feeling the texture of that potato, calmed him down” (Quinn).

Although I am well on my way to settling upon my idea topic, I remain puzzled by the correlation between food, music, storytelling, and kitchen therapy. I am not sure that I can or should bring all these topics together under one umbrella. Additional research will likely source the answer to that question. My hope is to create a document that will entice others to think deeply about this correlation and practice it in their home. I can only speak from my experience, but there is nothing more entertaining than watching people dancing and singing spontaneously while cooking in the kitchen. Simultaneously, the lessons learned and stories shared in our kitchens are the tides that bind, and offer courage as well as innovation.

This course has taught me that here in the 21st century, research material is infinite. The credibility and authority of data sources are vital, and academia has very high standards to meet. The FRCC library and other research sources are numerous and all-encompassing. I continue to ascertain the depth of available options for inquiry I am conducting.

Guad, David. “To be a cook, is to be a storyteller.” TEDxTysonsSalon. June 2018,

https://www.ted.com/talks/david_guad_to_be_a_cook_is_to_be_a_storyteller_jan_2018

Quinn, Lucinda. “The Power of Home Cooking.” TEDxRVA. July 2015,

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Dp337KHF4G0

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Rhetorical Situation and Choices

The author is validating the perceived link between cooking and communication.

Genre Conventions:

This is a non-fictional creation based on real life conditions.

PURPOSE:

The author is informing through storytelling using real life family conditions.

ELEMENTS OF THE GENRE:

The author focuses on the relationship between food preparation and family memory creation ties to storytelling. The Writing is easy to follow and has no set pattern.

AUDIENCE:

The author has clearly written this for the general public.

STYLE

Informally Tier 3—Low-Frequency, Context-Specific Vocabulary, it is Third person, with mixed quotes.

RHETORICAL APPEALS:

The author does not dwell on ethos or logos, but sets sight squarely upon pathos through descriptive writing about food preparation and the family health through structure and culture.

DESIGN:

I found the article in several formats depending upon the publication. Images and color are used.

MODES and MEDIA:

This publication is in the form of digital text supported by a few photos. I believe the purpose was to reach the masses effectively.

SOURCES:

The source material is based upon personal experience with no references.

Wonder:

The author effectively activates my schema. I am very curious to research this topic further. This article ties directly to much of the research I have already completed on this topic.

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The CRAAP test is in play to authenticate a research source. In the academic world, emphasis is placed on removing conjecture and opinion. The CRAAP Test is a tool used to measure this form of authentication. One of the connections I make between the learning activity and the CRAAP test is validation of source.

I could not utilize the form filler without a membership at cost, so I was able to print and fill out the form, take a picture of it and attach to this padlet post.

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Being put in a position where I had to identify five things I liked about my ENG121 experience, is would initiate the conversation by stating that the last time I was in college was during the Carter Administration. The Miracle on Ice story had just happened in real life, we were using rotary dial phones, and there were no computers, iPods, iPads, iPhones or any other form of cellular communication. Entering into this course was going to be a challenge.

I did learn some of the basics tied to commas, apostrophes, fragments, verbs, run-on sentences and other mechanics. I learned how to use padlet and screencast, and how to use these tools to post and report. I did learn how to read rhetorically and write descriptively. I was able to activate my schema and discovered new methods to research, even through the college library. I have certainly been given the opportunity to expand my cranium.

I have been taking online courses for three years at FRCC, and this is the first experience I have had with a course outline such as it is. I am discovering that I have to invest 10x the amount of effort to attain the three credits for this course by comparison with any other 100 and 200 classes I have taken thus far. I can not take a textbook with me to work to study at lunch because there is no text book. Since I work in an area that has no cellular or wifi connectivity, I have to do all of my work on this course after I return home from a 10-hour day at my employment. Other courses are opened up completely right from the start, and students are allowed to get ahead of the class schedule so as to offer greater flexibility for working adults. I am learning as much in this class as I am in other 100 and 200 classes, but I wish it was not at the expense of my family who have to sit on the back burner for another two months while I complete this 3-credit course.

I know that I am old school, and some of this is new to me. I am doing well in this course and learning as I go. I do not like to skim through my research or reading assignments, but I find that I do not have the four hours per day available to me that are necessary to complete the 30 tasks per week as scheduled. To that end I am forced to skim and power surf through a lot of the relative data. The challenge has not been the learning, but rather finding the time to learn and complete the schedule. The rigidity of the lock and unlock schedule further handicaps my ability as a working adult learner, with more available time on the weekends than during the week to complete tasks. I wonder about all these things and hope they  can be massaged to make the experience better for the next class.

OL Mac

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P28 - Post 6: Second Academic Source (EBSCO)

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P28 - Post 6: Second Academic Source (EBSCO)

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http://web.b.ebscohost.com.frccwc.idm.oclc.org/ehost/detail/detail?vid=5&sid=ff491bf5-2a9f-4ffa-a4b8-00e17230e57c%40pdc-v-sessmgr06&bdata=JnNpdGU9ZWhvc3QtbGl2ZQ%3d%3d#AN=139281051&db=pbh

In the article, “Kitchen Therapy a Recipe for Life”, Charlotte Hastings tells of her experience as a psychodynamic therapist utilizing cooking as her gateway. She employs contrasting colors and fragrances into her description of how combining the coincidental compatibility of food and storytelling to develop a way of using the relationship with food and its preparation as a therapeutic medium, which she calls Kitchen Therapy. The author discusses how humans are social but meaningful creatures, referring to the primal merger that links thinking with digestion, and the emotion we cook with enchanting the food we eat. However, she also touches on gender difference generalizations and the tendencies of the individual, identifying many tough cases overcoming shortfalls in organization and courage. Hastings concludes by writing that making a meal tells a complete story, with a beginning, middle, and end; that cooking and storytelling are profoundly interconnected and therapeutic.

After reading this, I can make several personal connections to Hastings’s recognition of the relationship between cooking, storytelling, and people. In answer to her question about remembering a meal I recently thoroughly enjoyed, I always have strong memories of the people we ate with and the place and ambiance around the meal. Her reference to “The power of cooking to reveal our process and connect us to the heart of ourselves is like the power of music to move us to tears; it is a uniquely human phenomenon” (Hastings, 2019), ties in directly to my theory that cooking, storytelling and music are all intertwined to create some of our most powerful memories. I utilize cooking and music with my mentally handicapped step-son who needs the structure and repetition of cooking to expand his horizons and develop his self-esteem. It does take courage to try something new, and cooking also requires the organization of following recipe directions and ingredient preparation. All of this is made easier and more entertaining with the introduction of music as a means of calming the anxiety of attempting something new.

Now that I have completed this my 6th research project on the topic of food preparation and cooking, I am absolutely convinced that there is an undeniable correlation between cooking, music, and storytelling. The research supports my own experiences utilizing this connection with disabled folks, and even for myself I find cooking to be rewarding and a deflection from my normal workaday lifestyle. The anxiety of today’s challenges simply melt away with the initiation of a new cooking project, good music, and someone to share stories with. I am curious to know if others have enjoyed similar experiences.

Work cited:

Hastings, Charlotte. “Kitchen Therapy a Recipe for Life.” Therapy Today, vol. 30, no. 9, Nov. 2019, pp. 32–35. EBSCOhost, frccwc.idm.oclc.org/login?url=http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=pbh&AN=139281051&site=ehost-live.

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P27 - Post 5: First Academic Source (EBSCO)

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P27 - Post 5: First Academic Source (EBSCO)

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http://web.a.ebscohost.com.frccwc.idm.oclc.org/ehost/detail/detail?vid=5&sid=d9d9f319-c16c-48fd-8ef1-f903cc9ae15a%40sessionmgr4008&bdata=JnNpdGU9ZWhvc3QtbGl2ZQ%3d%3d#AN=130274123&db=pbh

In the publication “Coming Together”, Sharon Boone expands on the talents of the Smollett family. Residing in Los Angeles, their talents range from TV writer-producers, to actor-musicians and chef–TV personalities. Boone explains how the family crisscrossed America 13 times, enveloping the cooking styles of many locations and ethnicities. The author explains that food was always the center of their celebrations and family life, and how the matriarch would build the family table from scratch at each new home, always too big to be moved on to the next. Correspondingly, it was no surprise to learn that she was in charge of quality control when the family decided to create a cookbook for publication. Boone notes the cultural lean toward New Orleans style cuisine adopted by the Smollett’s, and how they reflect their history through culinary innovation. Further, the author recognizes the family's identification with the relationship between cooking, music, and people.

After reading this, I can make several personal connections to Boone’s recognition of the relationship between cooking, music, and people. We all know that musical memories run rampant through our minds and that the smells of different foods cooking will trigger the senses. I am intrigued by this research data because it finds a correlation between music and food, something I always subliminally knew but was never able to put my finger on. Boone breathes life into this article through family member quotes and storytelling of adventures. The New Orleans connection really ties it all together with the existing global recognition for its music and cuisine. The author nails it with Jussie’s statement, “It's because when you walk down the streets of New Orleans you feel that history, you smell that history, you taste that history, you hear that history”(Boone, 2018). I spent many New Year’s Eve celebrations watching my father make music with Pete Fountain in the French Quarter. There is no place like New Orleans.

I am of Scotch Irish heritage and recall watching my great aunts cooking in the kitchen while singing a host of Gaelic tunes. I have worked within the confines of many a restaurant galley with the ethnic theme music reverberating throughout. To this day, someone from my family will always turn on music before we sit down to eat a meal. My Dad had a variety band I played in with him for 13 years, and we would receive bookings for everything from paddlewheel riverboat tours to weddings. Ukrainian weddings were the best because they lasted all weekend with three bands cranking out music 24/7. The food was to die for, and the presentation was overwhelming, but what really amazed me was watching the waiters dancing while carrying the food to and from the kitchen. I often wondered about the correlation between music and cooking, and if others have experienced this phenomenon.

Work cited:

BOONE, SHARON R., et al. “Coming Together.” Essence, vol. 49, no. 3, July 2018, pp. 148–151. EBSCOhost,

frccwc.idm.oclc.org/login?url=http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=pbh&AN=130274123&site=ehost-live.

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I am still trying to find a way to attach two items to one post.

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W7
I wrote an email to Jesse, who was finally able to connect with me on my question. I asked for a good FRCC research site that addresses famous quotes or adages from influential people. Upon receiving his response, I immediately opened up the site and tested it. Being a long time fan of Sir Winston Churchill, I challenged the site with his name. I was pleasantly surprised by the wealth of data that come pouring forth, some of which I was unaware of. There is no doubt I will be using this site in the future, as I like to use quotes and adages in my speeches.

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This is my screencast production for your entertainment, submitted in two formats.
https://screencast-o-matic.com/watch/cY6iVLKaeG
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NMIEsHJZ6aA

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P23 - Post 4 W6 Second Friendly Post YOUTUBE

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P23 - Post 4 W6 Second Friendly Post YOUTUBE

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In the YouTube, “The Power of Home Cooking”, Lucinda Scala Quinn talks about how the dinner table is the one place where the physical, spiritual and emotional well-being of a person can be positively influenced. She believes that home cooking is an essential life skill, and initially introduces her family as subject references. Quinn reasons her way through expensive preservative laden food avoidance utilizing healthy wholesome ingredients at a reduced cost, while meeting the demands of three teenaged boys. However, repetition equals ritual and she realized later in life that her children found a balance in their lifestyle from watching her cook healthily for them. Finally, she encourages everyone to not only cook for the ones they love, but teach them to cook for themselves so they can pass it on.

After reading this source, I noticed how the author is successful at incorporating the passion of cooking with behavior and structure. For example, she refers to one of the sons peeling a potato, and how “peeling the potato and feeling the texture of that potato, calmed him down” (Quinn, 2015). She continues to make reference to how we all have recollections of memories that are triggered by the senses, and none are as powerful as those coming from the kitchen. I have an adult step-son who is mentally and physically disabled, and we spend a lot of time in the kitchen cooking, cleaning and visiting. He loves to participate in food preparation as it offers him clear structure and repetition. It does not matter if we are baking cookies or cranking out baby back ribs, once he dawns that manly BBQ apron, there is no way to wipe that smile off his face. Quinn is deliberate in her inclusion of the positive long-term effects felt by her family tied to their experiences with wholesome cooking.

I look back on the research for this and other related posts, and find shared terms. There appears to be a clear correlation between food preparation, the kitchen, home cooking, and storytelling. Emerging from this is the busy structure that creates favorable behavior, reinforcing ritual and balance in life. For myself, cooking remains a powerful means of communication and personal well-being. This research has taught me to stay the course, continuing the effort of maintaining stability within our family unit. I am relieved to see the similarities shared by both professional chefs and veteran homemakers in an effort to enhance the health and happiness of others. I would be willing to bet that we all know someone who could benefit from the behavioral structure associated with home cooking, even if there is a mirror involved.

Quinn, Lucinda. “The Power of Home Cooking.” TEDxRVA. July 2015,

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Dp337KHF4G0

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Screenshot - The Power of Home Cooking  Lucinda Scala Quinn  TEDxRVA - YouTube - Google Chrome

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P22 - Post 3 W6 First Friendly Source TED

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P22 - Post 3 W6 First Friendly Source TED

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In the TED talk, “To be a good cook, is to be a storyteller”, David Guad expresses his concern for the lost art of communicating through cooking and food preparation. He begins with a short history on his Cajun background, with French roots going back to Nova Scotia. Early on, Guad introduces his godmother who heavily influenced his life as an adolescent. Her ability to teach life lessons while involving him in food preparation steered him away from trouble and pointed him in the direction of the path he would ultimately traverse. In conclusion, Guad encouraged his listeners through a call of action to continue telling stories in the kitchen so that family traditions and cultures can be shared with future generations.

After reading this source, I can make several personal connections with Guad’s story about food preparation. For instance, he refers to how “My parents were at their ropes end with me and would send me to Aunt Boo to straighten me out” (Guad, 2018). The number of times I experienced that very action with my relatives was countless. However, little did my parent know that I enjoyed the experience and found an attachment to the wisdom in my old kinfolk. They knew how to calm a hyper child through task redundancy in the kitchen and storytelling, boosting confidence while expanding a cranium. Guad touches on a vital cultural topic when referring to the loss of family tradition. For example, he refers to his aunt wearing an apron most everywhere with a koozie tucked in the front pocket, and her Louisiana cuisine always started with a proper roux having the color of a flooded bayou. The process takes time, and forces an impatient teenager to focus, standing still in one spot stirring while listening to stories from the elders.

I recall my aunt bustling about in the kitchen singing the lyrics accurately to songs from 50 years prior, frustrated because she could not remember where she left the car keys. Life is like that as we get older, and this research reminded me of the value tied to wisdom. There are times when we learn something brand new, and others when we are relieved to know that we are still on the right track. I am reassured that there is a direct link between storytelling and food preparation, both culturally and functionally. The tacit knowledge passed down from generation to generation while cooking and eating together is invaluable. Surely, we all have people that we can benefit from, either as a student or as a teacher.

Guad, David. “To be a cook, is to be a storyteller.” TEDxTysonsSalon. June 2018,

https://www.ted.com/talks/david_guad_to_be_a_cook_is_to_be_a_storyteller_jan_2018

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Screenshot - David Guad To be a cook, is to be a storyteller  TED Talk - Google Chrome (4)

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Carr uses a host of sources in an effort to establish credibility for his observations and conceptual idea. He is proposing that the way we read is changing, and with it is our ability to comprehend. He claims modern technology has turbocharged our access to research material and negated the need for deep reading. To that end, we have a tendency to skim and bounce through what we are reading. Power browsing is chipping away our capacity to concentrate, and we have to fight to stay focused. Many have surrendered to the idea that reading an entire book is a thing of the past. He uses references to McLuhan, Freidman, and Wolf as a means of establishing integrity for his suggestions.  Even Carr can not get away with pontificating on an idea based on fiction, and must offer some level of authenticity.

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I am an avid outback survivalist and found this article both disturbing and apropos. It has been my experience that when listening to people of intelligence, they ramp up to the actual meaning of their idea through the use of multiple examples before dropping the bomb. Carr does this well as he travels through the processes associated with the voyage from the natural to the unnatural way we think and the way we use our brain. He refers to  Wolfe about her statement identifying that reading promoted by the Net, “puts efficiency and immediacy above all else”, as only a machine should. He also makes reference through Foreman in conclusion about how we are becoming pancake people, robotic and machine-like rather than uniquely intellectual as humans. The contradiction to be learned from in Carr’s article is relative to the apocalyptic conspiracy theory about how we could have allowed machines to adopt human critical thinking associated with common sense, when we should have been worried about allowing our own aptitude that flattens into artificial intelligence. Somehow, we as a species have managed to allow machines to control the way we think, even to unnatural echelons. Either way, in the end the machines win.

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I find a correlation between Carr and Nietsche in the sense that they are both willing to take a position that is not popular in order to express their observations. In my annotations, it is apparent that I have highlighted and applied footnotes to the answers for the google questions. I quite enjoyed reading this article and look forward to addressing the questions in the following posts. I found Carr to be very well spoken.

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Screenshot - ENG121 Is Google Making Us Stupid doc - Word

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Food preparation and sharing has always been a wonder to me as an adult, to the point that I owned and operated a catering company. To this day, I am best remembered for my cooking. I recall many times associating the gift with a primal recognition and appreciation going back to the dark ages. One article I found identifies this in association with who we choose as a mate, and the importance of the dinner table for both our psychological as well as your physical well-being.

https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/fulfillment-any-age/201708/what-your-earliest-food-memories-say-about-you

Food preparation and sharing is not only about creating memories, but also the creation of a safe place in the house where any topic can be broached. The kitchen becomes the hub of family life, where rituals are passed down and confidence can grow. The act of cooking itself becomes secondary to the conception of tradition.

https://www.nytimes.com/roomfordebate/2014/09/21/with-home-cooking-is-feeding-the-family-feeding-resentment/cooking-is-about-creating-memories-and-bonds

Food preparation and sharing will also take the voyage full circle, not unlike the last supper. I often wondered about what my last meal would look like, and recall sitting around the hunting party campfire listening to my elders tell tales of old while preparing supper. I recollect learning a great deal from them, and missing the ones that were not able to return the following years. I remember those feasts as well as Christmas Goose with my grandmothers.

https://time.com/5349472/david-joy-hunting-camp/

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I have chosen to research and write about food, since it is one of my favorite topics. My logging camp story was a real experience for me, and the catalyst for my lifelong pursuit of culinary contemplation. I grew up with many great aunts who could cook and bake up a storm of deliciously devilish enticement. Both of my grandmothers were courageous in the kitchen, and the competition at Christmas was combative. Being raised on a cattle farm, we butchered our own pigs, cows and chickens. Collecting eggs and milking cows was all in a days works, with little compassion for complaints. Once I moved away from the farm as a young adult, I did not think much about food preparation for a decade. I was drawn back to the culture by my curiosity for not only variations in culinary ethnicity, but also the primal meaning associated with breaking bread together. I discovered that the most popular room in any house is the kitchen, and most everyone has great stories about the foods they grew up with as children. I am reminded of holiday dinners, hunting party campfires, customer appreciation pig roasts, and family breakfast on the farm.

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I did receive feedback from 3 different sources for my academic summary, to include the writing center, two fellow students through the feedback discussion process, and the FRCC library website with MLA 8th edition citation. First, I looked into the MLA rules on citations to assure that I was in compliance. Next, I ran my summary through the 3rd person wording check CTRL + F. Ultimately, I needed to identify with  including some specific examples, as identified by a fellow student and the writing center. I double checked my types set, upgraded my citation, and looked into exhibiting more specific examples.

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This is a first draft toward successfully completing am academic summary.

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I did not have time to receive responses from other students, however I did pick on my two formally educated neighbors Tim and Andrea. I discussed the topic with Tim while he was splitting wood and Andrea while she was feeding her chickens. I did have notes with me so I did not miss anything, however I did not change anything as I wanted to hear their differing responses to the same points. I found that the only difference was that I was a little more at ease with the second presentation, and I attribute that to repetition.  Everyone seems to agree about the negative effects of stress on our health, but also how stress influences each of us differently.

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P13 - Week 4 - Post 1: Activating Schema

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P13 - Week 4 - Post 1: Activating Schema

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I knew very little about Activating Schema before this week's lesson, at least in a conscious state. I prefer to look through the index of a book before I start reading to stimulate my curiosity and create a visual picture of where my marks are, similarly to racing a car on an oval track.
https://www.ted.com/talks/sharon_horesh_bergquist_how_stress_affects_your_body

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I submitted my summary on Sunday to the writing center online, and the turnaround was less than 24 hours. Katie Richards expressed to me ,“I think you're off to a good start, but even in this kind of short summary including some specific examples can help the reader more easily follow your point.” I was having an issue with her attachment, and Richards was able to reply immediately with the correct instructions. I found the experience to be positive and plan to use this resource in the future.

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Million Dollar Highway Screenshot - Vintage Postcard Folder Foldout Million Dollar Highway Western C

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https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Conagher

Louis L’Amour wrote 116 novels, of which 30 were cast into movies between 1953 and 2001. Tom Selleck and Sam Elliot were also big fans and starred in several of these theatrical productions. I have all his compositions and have read each no less than twice. I visited the room above the bar in Durango, Colorado where he did some of his writing, and know several people who drank with him on occasion, one of whom is a good friend of mine and chose his marker when he died in 1988.

Not unlike myself, Louis is a historian. His effort is to retain history through his writing and storytelling, which will not be altered. We all know that history is rewritten continually by the victors of war, and that which was once taught in history classes years ago has been lost in revision and interpretation. In the event that one wants to know what really happened prior to 1776, there will likely need to be a trip scheduled to the Library of Congress in Washington DC. Louis wants his audience to be entertained, but to also pick up on the fact that this country was lost and found by brave people over several centuries. Primarily, his audience was made up of the working class. He once wrote that his books are for the people who do the work of the world, who struggle to make ends meet, who build, the people who do.

L'Amour has connected with readers primarily through his storytelling talent and his recognition of the continuing power of the West and the frontier in our American imagination. His research and historical accuracy remain unchallenged. Louis characters are never profane, explicit sex goes unmentioned, and his heroes are often extraordinarily well-read for all their machismo. Louis was a prizefighter prior to WWII and fought all over the world in some of the toughest places known to a globetrotting seaman. One of his greatest literary features was his ability to capture in writing the life-like sensation of fist fighting. Conagher, both the book and the movie, display this quality very well. Louis writes his stories in a direct, fast-moving style, with one-dimensional characters and few interior monologues or elaborate descriptive passages. The only images included are those he paints in the reader's mind with his wordsmithing aptitudes.

Louis grew up the son of a salesman in North Dakota, moving out on his own at 15 never to achieve a higher formal education than grade 10. He traveled the world working on freighters at sea before WWII, and for the military an additional 4 years. His experiences included work as a miner, lumberjack, and ranch hand. He won money prizefighting, but also survived through times of homelessness. He didn't beg or steal, just went without. He wanted to express for his readers what it's really like to be hungry. He penned stories about survival and lessons in endurance, having been a survivor most of his life. He learned how to gather the raw material that yields story ideas and the authenticity he prizes. He sought out old gunfighters and outlaws, of which he grew to know 30 or 35 of them personally. He mined the files of small-town newspapers and interviewed ranchers. His authenticity is evident in his writing, and individual gratitude is common on its own page in the back of the book. In the case of Conagher only the name of his interviewee is mentioned, Richard L. Waldo.

His grammatical person is all over the place, mixed to say the least. He has an informal tone and crafts at an adult level, Tier 2 or 3. Louis writes for the laymen about the American Frontier during the 16th to the 20th centuries. To that end his sentences are relatively short and to the point, identifying with the vocabulary and humor of the time period.

Louis L'Amour is one of America's greatest authors, and I hope to inspire others to google him. Personally, I believe strongly in the use of storytelling as the vehicle to retain interest in my writing. I would not find reading modern tax law any more interesting than anyone else, but a story about the experiences of a tax collector in Colonial America may keep me turning pages.

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I heard the clatter of metal on metal, like a spoon in a pot. There are faint voices whispering and the shuffle of shoes on hard floors. Everything was dark, but slowly getting lighter. My head hurt, and I could feel sudden pressure on my chest. My arms would not work, and I could not move. My mind was racing in an effort to collect my memories.

What was I doing last? I smell the gear oil in the shop and catch the crackle of the fire in the big stove. I was using the rolling creeper on the cold floor to get under a car. Yes, my red 1969 Plymouth Barracuda was up on jacks and I was under it cutting off the old exhaust pipe with the acetylene torch. I was done cutting and pushed on the pipe to move it sideways, but instead caused the car to fall off the jacks and crash down on top of me. The first time it bounced, the steering arm hit me squarely on the forehead. The second time it bounced, I felt bones break. The last time my car came down, it pinned me to the cold floor and I could not breathe. I remember looking over at the torch, relieved that it had capped out on the floor and could not burn through any part of my body. I was growing faint from lack of oxygen and knew that I had little time left to do something. No matter how I squirmed or struggled, it became clear that I was not going anywhere. Who would find me? My parents were in Hawaii on winter vacation from the bitter cold of the north country. My sisters were unlikely to check on me, and my Grandparents were not going to be easily coaxed outside in -40-degree temperatures. I wriggled my arms up between the floor and the car frame, slowly pushing and wedging to gain a sliver of breathing room. The pain was unbearable, and I knew something was terribly wrong with me. I could not yell with the heaviness of the automobile on my chest, and who would hear me anyway. It was time to come to terms with my reality, and it dawned on me in that moment why I had never foreseen myself as an old man. This was my time, as if by destiny. Would I see a light, like the end of a dark train tunnel? Would I just go to sleep and never wake up? Why was I so cold?

Suddenly, I could hear more whispering and I could smell bleach. I slowly tried to open one eye just a little, but there was so much light. I knew I could not be dead because I was in too much pain. I could hear curtains sliding, and the light was no longer so bright. I felt someone pulling on my eyelids, and abruptly I could see a nurse’s face looking down at me. She did not smile, but rather turned away and returned with a doctor. “You had a close call, pal. DOA does not usually end well”, he said. I could only nod, so he continued with the story of how my sister and Grandfather found me on the floor with no sign of life, dug me out from under the car, and rushed me to the hospital in the back of the pickup truck. My body temperature was so low that after a shot of adrenaline to my heart, the ER staff was able to revive me. I had been officially DOA for 9 minutes, but the cold of the north country had saved my life. He resumed his update by saying that all my ribs were cracked, and both collar bones were broken. By this time I realized that I was encased in a mold shaped like a letter T, with my arms outstretched as if to tell a story about the fish I caught. “Give it about a month, and we will have you out of this thing”, he said as he knocked three times on the cast.

I often saw myself as an old man in the days and years following my return to the shop where I died. I see that old man in the mirror today and wonder if I cheated the devil in some wintry way?

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Off-road trail riding and rock crawling has always been one of my favorite forms of recreation. I am too lazy to hike to the top of a mountain, especially when I can drive 90% of the way and hike the last mile or two for that breathtaking view. My buddy Rick owns a jeep touring company and I was helping him out as a driver/tour guide one summer exploring Garden of the Gods, Phantom Canyon, and The Shelf Road out of Cripple Creek. I overheard some of the riders complaining that although the scenery was beautiful, they were hoping for something more exciting. I spoke with Rick about what I had heard, and he agreed that he needed someone who had a serious off-road jeep who could entertain those few potential customers wanting some adventure. “I can be your barrel-role guy”, I offered like a stunt pilot. We immediately started booking liability waiver tours on rather treacherous terrain, being careful to fully interview new passengers in an effort to establish what they could handle.  I had only one lady bailout that summer, during a ride on Hackett Gulch Trail.

She was an executive from Wisconsin and said she had done some jeeping in Moab, so I assumed that she was up for the challenge she desired. After about an hour of driving up there on paved and gravel roads, we finally began the 20-mph ebb and flow of Hackett’s radical rolling terrain as we headed for the river about 8 miles away. We could hear the Jeep creak and pop as the suspension became fully extended on tight radius turns. I could see peripherally that my Packer pal had tight hold of the sissy bar bolted into the dash, and she was leaning like a motorcycle rider in the constricted curves. She had stopped talking as soon as we hit the trail, and I thought I could hear the sound of grinding teeth over the jeep engine. We rolled through some of the Haymen burn scar, nervously squeezing under a couple of widow makers as we lumbered along. We were about a mile from the river when we crested over a hilltop on three wheels and immediately plunged 66 degrees into a major drainage chute, home to a few Prius sized boulders. I heard her sucking air and then as she bailed out the side of the jeep, she exclaimed “I don’t think so”!

I stopped and watched for a moment as she rolled down the side of the hill in a cloud of dust and pine needles, thinking about how much safer the Jeep was. She missed all the rocks and trees, finally coming to rest near the bottom of the chute, grabbing her ankle. I crept down to her in the jeep and parked it nose-first into a tree so it would not roll. I worked my way over to her, making sure that I too did not become a victim of the steep topography. She had a few bruises and her ankle was sprained, but she was tough enough to get back into the Jeep knowing it was her only way out of the situation. After she was loaded, I reached into the glove box and asked her if she wanted the blindfold I had retrieved. I received the stink-eye without a smile and took it as a “no”.

She had little to say all the way to the hospital emergency room. I waited for her release and then returned her to our business office where she was able to drive away. Her final words to me were “Not a word of this to anyone”, to which I nodded my agreement.  I have often wondered since that day about people overcoming fear, and if they ever gathered the intestinal fortitude to get back up on that horse again?

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My first memory of having an interest in cooking was over 30 years ago when I was a hungry young man pulling wrenches in Northern Canada. I had flown into a logging area to join up with the Moose Lake Loggers as their mechanic for a month. It was bitterly cold and the first order of business was to set up a large tent, complete with forced air heat, around the Clark Log Skidder I would be working on the following day. -50 degrees is cold enough to solidify oil, so the machine needed to be warmed up in order to get the solid liquid out. That evening the dinner bell did clang, and everyone came running. I followed the plaid wearing crowd to surround a steaming 150-gallon cauldron hanging over an open fire. I watched intently as tenure was exercised in the chow line pecking order. Being near the end of the line I could see little through the wide shoulders crowded together, and the smell of dinner was nothing familiar. I was finally able to see into the black pot where my gaze was met by discolored foam and occasionally the glimmer of dark fluid. An old Indian, in desperate need of a dentist, was guarding the cauldron with crossed arms and narrow eyes. I had seen many of the loggers ahead of me bring their own bowl and knife, of which I had neither. I was searching visually for something I could use when Chief, as he was known, shuffled in my direction with an old aluminum hubcap. He thrust the artifact into my side and said, “Pup in bottom”. My mind raced trying to recall the animals whose offspring are called pups. I remembered there are seals, sharks, rats, mice, foxes, and any member of the canine family. Frantically I was trying to think of anything else more appetizing when I felt the 36” ladle slap into my hand. I looked up to stare into the eyes of a wrinkled sawyer, who looked tougher than the back wall of a shooting gallery. He just winked and said, “The Chief means that if you want any meat, you will have to dig for it”. I reached down into the mysterious liquid and could feel solid chunks elusively moving ahead of my efforts. I finally was able to excavate something solid and hoist it up into my vessel. To this day I am not sure what animals gave their all for our dinner, but the meal was profoundly tasty. Chief had an assortment of herbs and other ground-up seasonings I could not identify, but all were made available to each of his guests along with fresh campfire biscuits.

The next morning, I saw the old Chief slipping out into the bush through the back of the camp. I asked one of the loggers, “So, where is our chef headed”? Ol' Jimbo smiled and responded, “His trap-line, but he will be back in time to make supper”. It was in that moment I knew even a Scotch-Irish immigrant such as myself had a shot at cooking something tasty, knowing that the Chief could do it with nothing more than what he found on the ground. I did get to know the old Indian, whose given name was Wilbur, and I still have his hubcap. I used to speculate what kind of north bush entree he would come up with next?

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P7 - Noticing Descriptive Writing, Part I: Schema

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P7 - Noticing Descriptive Writing, Part I: Schema

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Yes, there was a time when I was scared for my life.

I was 16 years old living on the farm with my parents and grandparents in southern Canada. I was really into muscle cars at that time in my life, and was in the habit of buying, rebuilding, and selling these cars in short order as part of an effort to fund my upcoming college efforts. My father had a big mechanic shop on the remote farm location, and I would spend a great deal of my time working in there on my projects. On this particular cold and wintry day, my parents were away on a trip to Hawaii. I was working on a 1969 Plymouth Barracuda and had rolled it into the shop the night before to warm it up away from the -40-degree temperatures. I had the car jacked up and supported in three places with bottle jacks. Mid-morning the next day, I laid down on the rolling creeper and slid into place under the front of the car, with only my feet showing out from below the front bumper. I had placed the acetylene torch in place prior, and picked it up to begin cutting the exhaust pipe in preparation for the repair. The flint lighter ground out a few sparks and flames burst from the end of the torch tip. I began cutting on the pipe and as I grew close to penetrating through the metal, I applied a little side pressure to increase the gap in the opening. Suddenly, I could sense the car moving sideways and downward as it slowly came off the jacks. I can remember later thinking that it was like watching a car wreck in slow motion. Yet everything happened so quickly, and I had no time to react. The steering arm smacked me on the forehead as the car first bounced on the floor, and I recall the torch capping out on the cement surface beside my head. The second bounce brought incredible pain to my chest, and then the car came to rest on my ribcage. I tried to put upward pressure against the weight of the car, but slowly the heaviness of the Plymouth came to rest upon my chest. My head was swimming, and I could not gasp for air anymore. I remember thinking this was what it was like to die, and that is why I had never envisioned myself as an old man.

My sister found me roughly 45 minutes later when she came out to call me in for lunch. She immediately fetched my grandfather, who jacked up the car and pulled me out. I had no pulse nor any sign of life, so they threw me in the back of the pickup truck and took off for the hospital. The thirty-minute drive was shortened to twenty by my frantic patriarch, sliding over the icy roads in near -30-degree temperatures. Upon arriving at the hospital, I was pronounced DOA. Fortunately, the attending doctor had some experience with extreme cold and emergency response. My body core temperature was well below normal, and for that reason he did not stop trying to revive me. They gave me a shot of adrenaline in my heart and continued to work on me for 10 minutes before they finally received sign of life. 30 minutes later I was breathing on my own in a cold bathtub, although still unconscious.

Ironically it was the cold temperatures I hated so much that had saved my life. I woke up peering into the face of a less than attractive nurse, but one who I was never so happy to see. I had cracked every rib down both sides, broken both my collar bones, and suffered a concussion. I was in a T-cast that made me look like Christ on a Cross. Somehow, I had survived the experience with only minor brain damage due to oxygen deprivation (that is my story and I am sticking to it). I was released from the hospital a week later, followed by the cast off in 13 days. My parents discovered the story of my survival upon their return and although they were not very happy with me, they were relieved at the result of the story we had kept from them.

Since that experience, I have indeed seen myself as an old man. I like to think I cheated the devil that cold, wintry day.

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P6 - Noticing Descriptive Writing, Part IV: Q&A

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P6 - Noticing Descriptive Writing, Part IV: Q&A

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For me, descriptive writing is the ability to intrigue the listener such that they simply can not put down what they are reading.

There are so many references to research, and this topic is very ambiguous. I tend to lean toward simplicity, so I liked this link when I stumbled upon it.

https://www.readingrockets.org/strategies/descriptive_writing#:~:text=1.,thing%20invokes%20in%20the%20writer.

Characteristics of descriptive writing

1. Good descriptive writing includes many vivid sensory details that paint a picture and appeals to all of the reader's senses of sight, hearing, touch, smell and taste when appropriate. Descriptive writing may also paint pictures of the feelings the person, place or thing invokes in the writer. In the video section below, watch a teacher use a Five Senses Graphic Organizer as a planning strategy for descriptive writing.

2. Good descriptive writing often makes use of figurative language such as analogies, similes and metaphors to help paint the picture in the reader's mind.

3. Good descriptive writing uses precise language. General adjectives, nouns, and passive verbs do not have a place in good descriptive writing. Use specific adjectives and nouns and strong action verbs to give life to the picture you are painting in the reader's mind.

4. Good descriptive writing is organized. Some ways to organize descriptive writing include: chronological (time), spatial (location), and order of importance. When describing a person, you might begin with a physical description, followed by how that person thinks, feels and acts.

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P5 - Noticing Descriptive Writing, Part III: Identification

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P5 - Noticing Descriptive Writing, Part III: Identification

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They heard the dull and deathly reverb prior to the blur of bright clothes rushing past them as they looked upon a smoke-filled chaotic Boylston Street. He told his wife to run, although they did not know why.

“As a 20-something Pakistani male with dark stubble, would I not fit the bill? I know I look like Hollywood’s favorite post-cold-war movie villain.”

“What was left of the food court was a land frozen in an innocent time, forks still stuck in half-eaten pieces of steak, belongings littered unattended.”

I liked the authors use of strong verbs to keep me interested.

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P4 - Noticing Descriptive Writing, Part II: Comprehension

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P4 - Noticing Descriptive Writing, Part II: Comprehension

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It was Patriots' Day in Boston MA on April 15, 2013 and the day of the 117th annual Boston Marathon. The Patriot's Day Bombing was interrupted by two bombs detonated about 210 yards apart at the finish line on Boylston Street near Copley Square.

The author writes about how he not only fears for his own life and the life of his wife, but he is afraid that those citizens around him will subjectively identify him as a possible suspect for the bombing because of his race.

The author is attempting to describe not only the reality that one does not easily overcome similar fears from childhood in faraway countries with similar events, but the more upsetting fear of bigoted discrimination and prejudiced retaliation.

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P3 - Week 4 - Post 2: Reading with Purpose

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P3 - Week 4 - Post 2: Reading with Purpose

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In the critiquing process of my first read, I highlight the verbs and then make the power verbs to easily identify. In this example, I wanted to see how many times the power verb was used with the word STRESS.

https://www.ted.com/talks/sharon_horesh_bergquist_how_stress_affects_your_body

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Great ideas come from scrutiny.

The year was 2001, and I was introduced to the new director of Colorado LTAP, a local technical assistance program out of CU Boulder. At this point I had been working within the highway maintenance industry for 20 years, and with CLTAP for 5. Renee was young and full of energy, so it was not long before we hit it off at board meetings, looking toward the future of the industry. We quickly deduced that the boomer exodus was closer than we thought, and that many of the jobs held by experienced technicians and supervisors would be vacant. The real challenge was the changes to the industry regarding the ever-increasing pressure brought to bear by litigators and risk managers. We determined that the requirement for formal education at supervisory levels was in our near future, and we had better begin the process of organizing that effort.

However, we discovered rather quickly that the majority of people who held the purse strings did not subscribe to our concern. Further, we ran into resistance from the boomer middle management who simply wanted to finish their time and retire without any changes in their routine. From 2005 until 2015 we were pounding on doors, pontificating at seminars, and preaching at conferences. There was acknowledgment for the need, but no takers for any responsibility. Meanwhile the clock was ticking, and the remaining boomers were trickling out the door. Organizations were having to look outside their own agencies for supervisors because formal education had become a preference, and their own succession plan was falling short of the mark.

Finally in 2016, the Colorado Department of Transportation jumped into the think tank and we were able to find the funding and the resources to generate a degree concept for the highway industry. After a year of design and college interviews, Front Range Community College took up the flag and led the way to acceptance by the Higher Learning Institute in Chicago. With input from 335 Local Government Agencies and the CCC, we finally had our degree. The design allows for working adult learners to take all the course material online from anywhere in America. Crosswalks were established with industry technical training, and Prior Learning Assessments are in place to provide PLA credit for experience and technical knowledge. This first-in-the-nation online degree program has been available since 2018, and we are likely to have our first graduates in 2021.

Finally, the boomers can go fishing without worrying about the future of the highway maintenance industry.

Summary: We observed within an industry the need for skilled labor leadership requiring formal education. We acted upon that to reach out and assimilate a group of industry leaders and education forerunners who could identify with a vision. We generated the necessary products in an effort to collect all the technical and academic learning opportunity availability through a single portal.  We made the application user friendly and credible. We received feedback from the industry directly effected by the degree and proceeded to adjust the product to meet any additional needs. The product was marketed and the gates to success were opened.

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Hello Everyone.
My name is Rob McArthur (MAC) living in Woodland Park with my wife and we remain baby boomers, which means I am old and the kids have flown the coop (except for one who is learning disabled). I am a heavy equipment operator (specializing in avalanche mitigation and gravel road maintenance) having worked all over North America from Prudhoe Bay to Panama, finally slowing down in Purgatory (but never stop there, if you know what I mean). I retired from 30 years of public service to help develop the Highway Maintenance Management degree program at Front Range Community College, and now I am back in college (always a student) to attain the fore mentioned. It is difficult to “talk the talk” unless one can walk the walk, so I am again employed by a government agency operating heavy equipment, a skill I have honed from a young age as a farmer’s son. These experiences collectively help my effort in the program development. Although I have formal education from a time during the Regan administration, and 31 certifications and licenses in related technical skills, the PLA crosswalk falls short of the degree requirements, so here I am. Soon, I will be teaching some of the course material offered by FRCC for the HMM degree program.

My siblings and children are all over the globe involved in their own pursuits to include business ownership and military service. The identification and application of tacit knowledge is my interpersonal pursuit. To that end I enjoy working with young and old, exploring everything everyone brings to the table. I look forward to working through this course with all of you.

To “have” a great implies that it is new, requiring imagination. In my world, it also implies innovation which is the process of not just having a new idea, but executing it so that it creates value.

There exist five factors that I associate with learning, schooling, and writing. We are never too old or too young so long as we are putting our best foot forward. Regardless of online courses or teacher-led classes, there exists an opportunity to improve intellectually. Going into the experience with the right attitude means that there is a better chance of coming out of it ahead of the game. There will be mistakes made, but they are only bad if nothing is learned from them. Being patient and persistent are the keys to success in almost all aspects of life, including this.

I am a highway guy, so I like to ask this question of folks whenever I can: How are gravel roads important to metropolitan civilization?