Colorado Service Trip Response

I had an amazing time on the Colorado service trip!  It was really nice to go back in a smaller group with less of an itinerary.  Trying sushi was so much fun and absolutely delicious.  While I did miss having late-night soul-bearing discussions, that's not the kind of trip we were on... though I might try to implement that on the next trip.

Service was really fun, I generally do wish that I was stronger and more tank-like, but I suppose I should take it one step at a time to achieve a Leah-like work ability.  It was nice to be outside again, I didn't realize how much I have missed the sun.

Just as I knew I would, I packed too many clothes (but no deodorant), and I definitely need to work on the amount of stuff that I have in my life on a day-to-day basis.  That being said had I brought my swimsuit, I could have sat in the hot tub at the last hotel, but I obviously did fine without that.

There was no part of the trip that was bad.   The ride down and back was a smidge long, but none of the music played was offensive and no one was annoying at all.  I was never afraid for my life, so that's awesome.

I would have liked to have gotten more (if any) homework done, but as I didn't plan to originally, I'm not upset about it.  Everything I would have done I got done on Monday night so I'm not even stressed out about anything anymore.

On this service trip, I learned more about what is needed for flood recovery and how difficult it is to dig out and detangle a plastic fence from around a tree.  I know that's a life-skill so I'm pretty excited I have that down now.  I also learned about my body's own tolerance for manual labor.  Apparently, it exceeds the work that we did on the trip as I didn't occur any lasting injuries or PTSD from it.

I would definitely encourage everyone to go on the next scholars service trip.  It was an excellent opportunity to both explore a new city, volunteer, and get to know your fellow scholars on a very different level.  Once you've confused someone's head for an alarm clock there is nothing weirder you could possibly do, so you don't even need to worry about that.  I do wish, however, that we would have been able to go to more scientific museums (perhaps something about opiates?) but, I also really enjoyed the activities we did at night... so I don't know if I would have traded them up.

Anyways, the overall concept of this reflection is that I had a really good time on the Colorado service trip and I am so glad that I went!

Medical Justice Issue

         Justice for prisoners in the penal system has many facets.  One of those is the treatment of addiction and mental disorders.  The National Institute of Health requests that all prisoners be screened for disorders upon admittance (NIH 2010).  However, this has not been implemented due to the extent of the prison system and non-regulation.  According to the National Bureau of Justice Statistics 18% of inmates who met the criteria for drug dependence were treated on admittance in 2002 (BJS 2005).  Many believe that prisoners should be punished for the crimes and not treated medically on the federal dollar.  Studies show that treatment for addiction can prevent relapse and therefore prevent re-incarceration for drug-related crimes after release.

            A flaw in the National Institute of Health’s plan is the physical screening of the prisoners.  A study done by Lee and Antin tested the categorization and naming of drugs by drug users as opposed to researchers.  They found that drug users tended to categorize their drug use by consumption method or social situation than by a common chemical name like “meths” or “cocaines”.  Another potential problem was found with personal drug reporting.  Drug users could recognize the street name of a drug they had used, but not knowing the contents they would not be able to report it on a standardized survey under a medical name.  This causes biased reporting, as the user could have taken for example “thizz” but would not list it under “Ecstasy” though they have the same components (Lee and Antin 2011).  Inaccurate reporting could lead to improper treatment and a failure of the entire endeavor.

The best way to treat addiction remains unknown.  There are hundreds of treatment options available, all based on three main theories of addiction.  The Physical-Dependence theory says that people are addicted because they are avoiding withdrawal symptoms.  The Positive-Incentive theory is the opposite, people are addicted because they like the positive effects of the drug.  Finally, the Incentive-Sensitization theory states that people are addicted because they anticipate liking the positive, even if the drug no longer produces the positive effects (Pinel 2007).  Each of these theories have both strong evidence and clear weaknesses.  Treatments are generally chosen for addicts based on which theory their specialist believes fits their specific addiction.

            The amount of treatment time would also differ between prisoners.  Addiction has two main components:  pharmacological and behavioral.  Pharmacological refers to the physical changes in the brain which cause withdrawal.  Using treatment methods such as drug substitutes can help the brain return to homeostasis at a slower pace and reduce withdrawal symptoms.  However, behavioral effects of addiction can last longer than pharmacological.  If an addict is conditioned to always do drugs in a specific location or with specific paraphernalia, after leaving prison returning to those stimuli will provoke the addiction again (Solis 2013).  Therefore, treatment must begin as soon as addiction is detected, and continue through re-entry into society.

            Providing prisoners with treatment options for a long period of time could be expensive for the state and federal government.  As of 2011, the National Bureau of Justice Statistics states that the request for the drug control budget was 15,552 million dollars (BJS 2011).  Implementing the NIHs plan of required screening and treatment would greatly increase that amount.  However, treatment of addicts has been shown to reduce future crime.  In an article published by the Journal of Experimental Criminology, drug users were placed in either a “drug court” where they received intervention methods or a “comparison group” which received little to no treatment.  After an 18-month tracking period the data showed “drug court participants averaging less than half as many criminal acts (52.5 vs. 110.1) and drug-related criminal acts (38.1 vs. 100.4) as the comparison group” (Green et al 2012).

            Requiring screening and treatment for addiction in prison systems is a complex issue.  The justice of medical treatment coincides with the lack of funding and social support for the issue.  More statistics need to be known about both sides of the topic before an obligation can be set for prisons.

Literature Cited

[NIH] National Institute of Health.  2010.  Fact Sheet:  Addiction and the Criminal Justice System.

[BJS] Bureau of Justice Statistics.  2005.  Substance Dependence, Abuse, and Treatment of Jail Inmates, 2002.

Lee J and Antin T.  2011.  How do researchers categorize drugs and how do drug users categorize them?  Contemporary Drug Problems.  38:387-426.

Pinel J. 2007.  Basics of Biopsychology.  University of British Columbia:  Pearson.

Solis M.  2013.  A lifeline for addicts.  Scientific American Mind.  24(1).

[BJS] Bureau of Justice Statistics.  2010.  ONDCP National Drug Control Budget:  FY 2011 Funding Highlights.

Green M, Kralstein D, and Rempel M.  2012. J Exp Criminol.  8:165-192.

Notre Gouvernement

Our government never ceases to confuse me.  I was required to take government in high school, but I didn't take AP Gov so I got 100% in the class by doodling every day.  While in class today I was trying to wrap my brain around it, and I think I have a solid model going now.

Our government is like a group project.

I know what you're thinking, "OH GOD NO SARA I HATE GROUP PROJECTS THEY MAKE ME WANT TO MURDER EVERYONE AND PULL OUT ALL MY HAIR AND THEN MAKE IT INTO A PILLOW SO I CAN SUFFOCATE EVERYONE I FORGOT TO MURDER THE FIRST TIME"

This is a valid response.

But now think, how do you feel about our government right now?  About the same?

Let's get to the root of the problem:  Why do we hate group projects?  Because everyone is stupider than us and never does their work.  Not only that, but they refuse to go along with your ideas which you know are better than theirs.  Then it's the night before the project is due and you have to re-do the entire assignment because the other people didn't do it right, and you can't turn something that bad with your name on it.

What did the government do?  They thought everyone else's ideas sucked so they stuck to their own and as soon as one person finally did something, the next round of people changed it and no one agrees on anything again.  Therein lies the problem.  But what's the solution?  Obviously we can't solve it the way we do in Bio lab and go behind everyone's backs and re-do it and turn it in before anyone else sees.

Now what if we change the situation a smidge.  It isn't a group project for the final, it's the very first draft of your project--where you doodle down a poster set-up and maybe include an outline for the information.

I think this is how we should treat our government.  It will never be finished, it will always be a draft.  So instead of staying up all night and plotting how to kill your group members, or emailing your teacher to get them out of your group, we could just give in a little to their stupid ideas and work really hard to change it for the next draft.

Come on people, lighten up.  It's not the end.  Get something done already.

What was I going to talk about?

When I got out my computer I had an idea of what to blog about, but first it had to "configure windows" and then take about a thousand years to get on the internet.  Obviously the point of that sentence was to state that I have forgotten what I was going to blog about.

Let's blog about my style of writing.

I have a very conversational style which I think mimics my personality well.  However, I often feel as though I am being too informal.  Well the joke's on you life because my French teacher loves my style.  I believe that writing should be done for one's own personal enjoyment and that you don't always have to have a reason behind what you're writing.  In a perfect world I would be a fiction novelist.  That's always been my dream.  I've long since given up on it as I've never finished a novel.  I've written a few volumes of "My Mostly Fictional Narrative" where I take the things my friends and I do and spice them up a bit so it seems like we are super illegal all the time.  Now that I'm in college though I don't feel like anyone would get what I'm going for, and I can't use my friends from home as I am no longer at home.

Actually, let's get legit:  in a perfect world I would have infinite time.  But it wouldn't be the normal infinite time where you just live forever, it would be the ability to suddenly say you want more time right then.  So like I could decide after Scholar's to have time slow down so that I could finish all my biology reading before I go to band.  However, band would still be at the same time.  So you still have all the same amount of time in your life, you can just take specific parts and stretch the time out.  As an example, I was just on the phone with my friend and instead of spending an hour doing that, I could have stretched out that hour to include both the phone call and the time this blog post would take.

Outfly.  I want it to be Thursday.

My favorite thing about my life right now is that I did really good on my neuroscience test and I have my four-year plan almost entirely figured out.  Oh darn that's two things.

Politics I think are rather overrated.  Although they definitely have their place in society, I think society needs to put a muzzle on the dog we call politicians.  Animals should not live in your house, though they can be a beloved family member or even an unpaid employee.  We should treat our politicians as sheepdogs.  We give the commands and they follow orders using specialized skills.  At the end of the day we feed them well and put them to bed in their own miniature house.

As that last paragraph is on topic, I'm going to end this here before it gets worse.  However, I would like to continue to make note that I am still angry about my fingernail that broke off when I fell down the stairs.  Aight.

Independent Project

As with anything we discuss, I feel as though my views are fairly well known on every topic as soon as we leave Scholars.  To this point, it might be a smidge on the moot side to continue to discuss my opinion with the rest of the world.  As such, I'ma do it anyways because even though my blog is entirely fascinating no one actually reads it.

Anyways, the independent project.

I did an independent study in high school, and it was probably the best class I took all four years.  I worked with an English teacher and my TAG teacher on a class that didn't have enough people enrolled so it was dropped for the year.  It was a Selected Authors: Dickens class and so I just read Dickens and then I did a project.  I obviously got an A+ in the class but it was amazing.  I got to work at whatever pace I wanted and choose how I wanted to be graded.

The downside to this of course was that I had no discussion and that I could slack off as much as I wanted.  I presented to the English II class about David Copperfield without having actually read the last 100 pages until the night before....  Though I did a lot of extra work researching Dickens' style and writing a "mimicry paper" in the same way, it still wasn't nearly as much work as some other classes I've taken, and there was no one holding me accountable day-to-day.

Honestly, my only real memories of that class are:
1.  Sitting at my desk in the corner of the TAG room with my feet on the support bars and spinning          from side to side in my roll-y chair while reading.
2.  Making and frosting gingerbread men to look like the characters.
3.  Watching people in the mall to get ideas of something to write.
4.  Laying on the couch reading David Copperfield furiously.

So, in conclusion, I think to participate in the independent project you would definitely need to be extremely dedicated and passionate.  And probably not be an interest-spaz like me.  Do you guys want to hear about drugs?  I can talk about them for a while cuz that's what I crammed for last night.  Action potentials?  No?  Fine then, but I'm going to keep talking about something else.

AMATEUR DANCE CLUB

I had this awesome idea a couple weeks ago to start an amateur dance club.  What would happen is that there would be nights where you would go to learn a dance and then once a month there would be a formal dance, preferably with a live band, where everyone could go and dance and they wouldn't even have to be good at it or anything.

The dances would vary in style (ie line dancing, swing dancing, foxtrot, disco) to keep everyone interested.

It wouldn't matter if you were good at dancing or not, because it's just for fun!

Everyone who loves dancing would go, and people who like to just get out and not study, and also people who enjoy a work out that is way more fun than running.

I really am going to try to get this started.  Everyone I've talked to thinks it's a good idea, so there definitely would be support for it.  However, I still need a faculty adviser and a plan for implementation.

Oh and it also needs a new name because Emily doesn't like this one.  I've yet to find any better ones though.

So if I were in independent project, I would try to do all of my questions about amateur dance club and eventually it would become real.

Blog Post about Blogging

Sitting here, right now on my futon, I am trying to help Leah with her blog account.  She apparently has two google plus accounts which take her in circles.  She also has a blogger account that says she has no blogs.  However, one of her google accounts has the posts from that very same blog which does not apparently exist.  It is impossible to delete blogs (except in cases where the blog is removed due to spam or whatever) and so therefore her blog must exist somewhere.  But it doesn't.  Then she has two accounts and neither of them are connected to her blog anymore.  It's physically not possible.  We also tried to downgrade from google plus, but that does not appear to work either, as the google plus still is there.  Maybe someday she will be able to blog again.

Anyways, the moral of the story is that technology makes me want to tear my hair out and then sleep until it all grows back in.  I think that might actually be a good plan.

Ca m'enerve!

The following is my day written in French.  Please do not be upset by the lack of accents.
I wrote it to practice.  Also, if placed in Google Translate it gets kinda funny sounding.

Je ne peux pas ajouter les accents dans cette blogue, donc vous devez juste les imaginer.  Desolee.

Si quelqu'un me demande "qu'est-ce qui s'est passe aujourd'hui?"  J'aurais beaucoup de choses pour lui expliquer.  Aujourd'hui, j'ai du prendre le petit dejeuner seule.  Je deteste etre seule.  Plus que etre froid ou avoir faim.  Apres, je suis allee a mon labo de neuroscience.  C'etait bon parce qu'on faisait les experiences avec la memoire et j'aime bien choses comme ca.  J'allais a Clinton pour attendre Cara, mais ils sont deja au dejeuner!  Ouais.  Mais, ca c'est bon parce que je n'avais pas beaucoup de devoirs, et il etait possible que je peux les faire apres.  A une heure, je suis allee a mon cours de francais et c'etait bon.  Je n'ai pas reussi a l'interro, mais elle est just quatre points.

Maintenant, pour la partie qui m'enerve!  Mes dents.  Encore.  Je les deteste et je ne veux plus de dents.  Je vais avoir une personne qui mange ma nourriture et puis je le mange aussi.  Degoutant, mais, meilleur que la situation.  Demain, je dois aller au medecin de dents a Cedar Rapids encore.  Je dois sauter la classe de Scholars, et aussi la classe de bande.  Ca m'enerve.  J'en ai marre avec mes dents.  En plus, je ne me sens pas tres bien.  J'ai mal a la tete, a la gorge, et au tout mon corps.  Je dois quelqu'un pour me faire un calin.  Ce que me manque c'est ca.

Je sais que personne ne va pas ce lire.  Ce n'est important a moi.  Je me sens un peu mieux par l'ecrire.  Merci pour ecouter, ordinateur.  Je t'aime.

Response to Life

Life.  I've really nothing else to say about it.  I'm doing my best to figure it out, but somehow it seems to elude me.  I can do everything else in the world except plan out the rest of my life.

For my scholar's midterm project I plan to write my four-year plan.  I've already decided on a couple of steps to complete this.

1.  Decide when to do study abroad.
          a.  What does this mean for band tours?
          b.  What does this mean for chemistry and other coursework?
          c.  What does this mean for May terms?

2.  Write down classes required for majors.
          a.  Cross off which classes have been completed.
          b.  Sort which classes must be taken in specific years.

3.  Write down list of gen ed courses.
          a.  Cross off which classes have received transfer credit.
          b.  Decide (if choices applicable) which classes to take.
          c.  Sort which classes must be taken in specific years.
          d.  Choose classes to complete at Kirkwood for transfer credit.

4.  Write down list of classes strongly desired.
          a.  Decide passions.
          b.  Pick classes within each passion.
          c.  Choose May terms.
          d.  Figure out how to take these classes without overloading.

5.  Pick extra-curricular activities.
          a.  Decide passions.
          b.  Pick activities within each passion.
          c.  Join or create the activities.

6.  Get everything to fit into a schedule.

7.  Show adviser #1.

8.  Edit.

9.  Show adviser #1.

10.  Show adviser #2.

11.  Edit.

12.  Show adviser #1.

13.  Show adviser #2.

14.  Submit as scholar's midterm project.

15.  Do a happy dance.
          a.  Realize how many hours this took.
          b.  Do a dance from as many decades as hours it took.
          c.  Be really pleased that you have a plan.

16.  Find internships and research opportunities to accompany said plan.

17.  Do another happy dance.

18.  Follow through on plan.

As you can see, this project is going to take quite a lot of effort, but I will be extremely pleased with myself when it is complete.  As of right now, I am already pleased with my list of steps and am probably going to print it off to use as a reference.