Blog from 11-4: Outside Reading Response over Radio Lab

From what I understand from the radio lab the brain plays a major role in the placebo effect. Thist is because the brain is tricked into believing that it is receiving a some kind treatment for one thing when the brain is the one actually producing the treatment. An example of this was the experiment Daniel Moerman performed with the feathers in his mouth. Moreman performed this spiritual dance, that has not type of effect at all, on his patients and they get better. His patients did not know that the dace did nothing but their brains believed it so they got better. Another example of the brains role in the placebo effect is Dr. Beneditti's experiment with Parkinson disease. Sometimes the only way to stop this is with a surgery that implants A stimulator deep into the brain. In one experiment Dr. Beneditti pretended to turn the stimulator on and even though it was not really turned on their was still an improvement in his patient. The same type of improvement that would come from if he really turned it on.

The placebo effect is very interesting subject. It has had a few effects on my life. One time that I can remember that the placebo effect helping me was during my high school weight training days. My workout partner always lifted the weight first. My partner was stranger than me but if he said the weight he just lifted was going to be easy for my to lift then it would make it a lot easier for me. A time that the power of suggestion has worked against me is during some of my test. My friend will tell me that I'm going to do good and I always do bad. When I think I am going to do bad on a test I normally do good.

My favorite part of the program was all the extra sound effects that were added. They kept me even more interested in the subject. Anther thing I liked about the program was the Breakdown of the lab coats. I like this part because I go to the doctors a lot and I always feel better when I see someone in I white coat because I know I will fell better once they help me. One part of the program I would have liked to know more about is the how the hypnosis that healed the incurable disease.

Blog From 10-28: Fiction Packet 3

The first three stories in the packet really caught my attention. I thought each new section would be part of a different story but after reading them I knew they were part of the same story. I liked how the author use us brother threw out the stories. From reading them, you could tell that the main characters were little kids. You could tell this by the way the characters went about doing things. Only children would eat mud and playing in the rain in the When it Rains it Rains A River chapter. In the Singing Fish chapter a line stood out as if it came directly from child's mouth. The part of the sentence that stood out was “all across these made out of mud walls.” The sentence seems like it could have been worded differently but the author was trying to give the reader a better feel for the character. Another indicator that the characters were young is in the What our Mother Always Told Us chapter. Only children would still need to listen to their mother about simple task such as not tracking dirt through the house. Throw out all three stories it seemed like they were being told from a child's point of view. This was because the story jumped around at times to different subjects just as a child's mind does. The Wording of the sentences also showed that the author wanted to tell the story this way too.

These story were also interesting to read because they took me back to memories of my own child hood. I remember doing and experiencing many of the same things that the brothers were. My mother always had to tell my not to do certain things over and over again just as the boys mother did with the mud. I also remember playing in the rain all the time. I also loved to fish when I was little just as the brothers do. Every kid probably used their imagination to have fun just as the brothers were doing.

Final Blog Over Class Material

My time spent taking the course Creative Writing was an interesting one. The course caught me off guard from the very beginning. When I signed up for the class I thought is was course to help you to develop your essay writing skills. I soon found out that I signed up for the wrong class. This was not a bad thing. The class was able to help me to open the creative part of my writing. I did not even know you were able to write this way in school. Just as it had stated in the reading from Thursday, The Right To Writ, I had been lead to believe that my writing had to be dressed up in a military uniform. The course helped me to see that I can use all different types of writing and still be able to get the facts out.

While I did not like reading all of the material, such as the reading packets, they were still very helpful for the course. The books were the best reading material used. The book that helped me the most was the Goldberg book. It helped me to look at all parts of my writing to show my what I was doing wrong and what I could improve on. The chapters that helped me the most were the chapters in the beginning about Original Detail, and the Power of Detail. The first chapter broke down how important using detail was and how to use it. The second chapter put all the suggestions from Original Detail and show me how they could be used to write a small story. Using detail greatly helped many of my writing assignments.

The best part of class was being able to work in groups. Not very many college classes let you work in groups. It was always nice to hear other peoples opinions over the reading material. The only thing I did not like about the class was having to speak in front of the class over the material. Even though I had read the material and had about it, it was hard to speak. I am a very shy person and am to willing to share my opinion with the whole class staring at me. Getting points for talking in class is easy for a person who already talks to much or loves to talk. But I person who rarely ever talks would suffer in this area. I much more liked when we were assigned to write our opinions on a sheet of paper and turn them in. The overall class was very fun and I would love to take another course in this subject.

Crumling Expectations

This essay had many interesting topics in it. Their was one topic in a line that jumped out at me as the theme. The line where they talked about beauty being everywhere was a big part of the essay to me. The message being sent here was not to always only see the bad in a situation. He wanted people to look more into what good can happen from it. The main idea of the story was not to put all of your efforts into one thing because it can make your efforts with something you want more worse. This was showed in the book his father wrote and also in his efforts to articulate a book he was suppose to read during class. In the story his father wrote the main character put too much effort into his hotel when all he really needed was to put some effort into his relationship. I saw the same pattern in his efforts to understand a book during class. I feel that his teacher wanted him to try and understand the bigger picture verses trying to understand what the author was writing about.

Three voices: A line in this essay that I really liked was “their are phones ringing beyond Beethoven.” I was able to get a very clear picture of this scene where their was music playing in the room they were in and the character able to listen to a phone ring in another room. I think it was more of the wording of this line that I liked the most.

Fine art of Sighing: My favorite line from this essay was “you can no more contain it than you hands can cup a lake.” I thought this was a better way to explain sighing verses saying that it is an automatic body function that the mind cannot control. I feel like this could also become a very popular quot and very well known.