Final Paper

Jesse Forrester

Ann Marie-Yerks

Comp. 106

27 April 2009

The Technology Generation

Going on a rise since the 1980’s, technology is impacting the currently growing generation in many different ways. Words such as, Echo Boom, Generation Y, First Digitals, and Millennials, are used to describe the 80 million individuals born between 1981 and 1997. This generation is known for never taking no as an answer, adopting the newly digital social interaction, and having the ability to multitask. The words used to describe this generation have many similarities and little differences, all which play a key role in describing it. Along with their time of birth, these individuals became tagged with stereotypes about their generation who were expected to be completely different than any other. These stereotypes, such as increased smartness or efficiency, became noticeable throughout my life as well as others.
Terms such as Echo Boom, Generation Y, First Digitals, and Millennials, are used to describe the current generation of individuals who were born between 1981 and 1997. The most commonly used terms, Generation Y and Millennials, describe a person who is faster, more efficient, smarter, and more available then the previous generations. Jordan Kaplan from a USA today article says, “Generation Y is much less likely to respond to the traditional command-and-control type of management still popular in much of today’s workforce.” Offspring of the Baby Boomers, Generation X, and Generation Jones, these people are sweeping the labor field and letting the company know what they need to succeed, rather than the company telling them what they need. The previous generation is known for putting their career before everything, though this generation is stamped for placing their career behind friends and personal life on their list of priorities. The importance of priorities is best put by Marian Salzman, an ad agency executive who studies the Millennial generation, in a special on 60 Minutes. She said, “These young people will tell you what time their yoga class is and the day's work will be organized around the fact that they have this commitment. So you actually envy them. How wonderful it is to be young and have your priorities so clear.” Following an extreme organization in priorities, Generation Y or Millennials are said to enjoy constant change in their day to day plan, demand flexible jobs, and have a high confidence level.
The remaining synonyms, Echo Boom and First Digitals, are both derived to describe the same generation, though are used in different ways. Echo Boom refers to the college generation, who is sweeping the nation and bringing change to many universities. These students are socializing and working around the clock, similar to the book Microserfs, where the characters spend up to sixteen hours a day doing similar activities, and to some extend creating a different time clock to the population. For example, the University of Louisville now has a library that stays open all day, where students nap, eat, socialize, and study throughout the 24 hour day. In addition to this, colleges are enhancing the typical students living choices, by changing the size, number of rooms, and number of bathrooms found in a traditional dorm room used before. Echo Boomers are also experiencing more recycling, uses of alternative energy, and global warming issues than other generations. Next to the idea of going green, this generation became the first to experience a new digital world of technology, thus naming them the First Digitals. First Digitals is used the least when describing the current generation, mostly because the definition goes no further then the first age group to adopt digital social interaction. The low usage of this word is also due to the other synonyms, which are already defined as the most technological advanced generation.
Many stereotypes are found when describing the current generation, though the true test is appears when determining if these stereotypes are facts. Not knowing my generation contained so many names or stereotypes, I found it very interesting to find that many of them were true. With myself unable to remember my childhood, I interviewed my father, Tim Forrester, who told me about my childhood baseball team. He said, “You played baseball every year, won every game, and received a trophy after every season. The funniest part, the teams you plaid also won every game and received a trophy after every season.” As I child, winning every game and never loosing molded me to a world where no is not an answer and success is never measured. Many sources, such as the USA Today article and CBS News 60 Minutes, believe the Millennial generation’s child hood, which is structured for winning shaped, them to acquire their confidence, smartness, and willingness to place their career below friends and priorities. My father, who attended Farris State University, often tells me that my way of life is night and day when compared to his at my age. My homework is done at all times of the night, I socialize nonstop, and have the ability to text, listen to music, surf the web, and do homework at the same time. As a First Digital, I know more about technology then my parents will ever know in a life time. Following this, I have also experienced the flexible workforce, which is highly demanded by this current generation. When hired, my boss at GNC Nutrition told me school always comes first, following family, and lastly work. He also told me I can work on my homework when the store is empty and eat when I please, along with laying down some strict guidelines to keeping the store successful. Today, more companies are building a core relationship with the worker, which makes them happy and the business thriving at the same time.
The previous generation, known as the Baby Boomers, grew up in a world with strict order and discipline in the workforce. The current generation, known as the Millennials, is growing up in a world where they have more control and freedom of speech in the workforce. As stated previously, these individuals are stereotyped to be the best, strongest, and even obtain a completely different set of work to personal life priorities when compared to the previous generations. Many companies, such as Zappos, a shoe producing company who appeared on the 60 Minutes special, state that the best way to build a relationship with their employees and be successful is to make them happy by giving them what they want. On the flip side, many believe the current generation’s success is building up for a declining storm, with most raised to always be winners and get what they want. This is appearing inside companies who have a strict dress code, where workers are deciding to show up in flip-flops listening to an ipod. From the same 60 Minute special, Mary Crane says, “It's a perfect storm we have created to put these people in a position where they suddenly have to perform as professionals and haven’t been trained…They have no idea what it's like to actually be in an office at nine o'clock, with people handing them work.” The negatives are few and in between, with many positives surrounding this generation who puts family and friends before their career, almost similar to the characters found in Microserfs who live and work together to rise above the rest.


Works Cited
Agron, Joe. "Echo Boom Impact." American School & University . 25 Apr. 2009 .

Armour, Stephanie. "Generation Y: They've arrived at work with a new attitude." USATODAY.com. 8 Nov. 2005. 25 Apr. 2009 .

CBS News. "The "Millennials" Are Coming." CBS News . 5 May 2007. 25 Apr. 2009 .

Coupland, Douglas. Microserfs. New York: HarperCollins, 1997.

Forrester, Tim. Personal Interview. 24 Apr. 2009.

Activity III

Jesse Forrester

Professor Ann-Marie Yerks

Comp. 106

5 April 2009

Quiz Name: What Kind of Personality Are You?

1. What is your favorite color?
a. Black
b. Blue
c. Green
d. Red

2. When you see a dead bird you…
a. Feel sad
b. Look away:
c. Don’t care and see it as survival of the fittest
d. Wonder how it died

3. Meeting someone for the first time is…
a. A new experience
b. Something you don’t look forward to
c. An opportunity to share thoughts and talk with them
d. The highlight of your day

4. When someone drops a dollar you…
a. Go give it back and look forward to meeting them
b. Just simply give it back
c. Keep it
d. Wonder if they dropped any more

5. What do you do when someone offers you a new type of food?
a. Say thank you and offer them some of yours
b. Reject it
c. Enjoy the sample and wonder what the rest tastes like
d. Always accept an opportunity to try something new

6. Which is your type of vacation?
a. Traveling to a different country to go sky diving and rock climbing
b. Going to a museum to see how multiple things are made
c. Going to a third world country to help those in need
d. Vacations are over rated

7. When do you take risks?
a. Never
b. Only if they result in good for another person
c. Sometimes
d. Always

8. You see a “class clown” as someone who is…
a. Not needed in society
b. Fun to be around
c. Only showing one side of them, with many others only expressed behind closed doors.
d. Just another person who can express themselves however they wish

Results on “What Kind of Personality Are You?”

Curious: B, D, A, D, C, B, C, C
A person with a curious personality is always trying to find out new things. You want to find the roots to problems and solutions to the unknown. You will very often relate to your child self, because children are the most curious individuals. This personality has a very positive mood and sees a new day as a new challenge. Curious people are very efficient because they are always searching for answers and different ways to accomplish the same task.

Shy: A, B, B, C, B, D, A, A
A shy person will have the smallest amount of social contact with other individuals. You may be shy, though this causes other traits, such as intelligence or creativeness, to strengthen. You feel as if society is very different in comparison to you and avoiding the situation will make the day go smoother. You mean no harm to others and feel you are doing a favor to society by staying away. People see you as an outsider socially, though your skills in other areas are so strong that society becomes the outsider.

Caring: D, A, C, B, A, C, B, D
You will often put others in need before yourself. Inside you are driven with a passion to help others and find happiness in doing so. You are more emotional than the average person and many of your decisions are chosen by emotion. You are very easy to like and communicate with. Many see you as a counselor, because you care about others problems and have no problem with hearing them. In this world, you have a rare personality and some may take advantage of you.
Outgoing: C, C, D, A, D, A, D, B
You are always willing to try something new. In a given situation, you will be the brave one of the group and take risks that cause your personality to shine. With a bright personality, many consider you fun to be around, though taking you seriously is sometimes a challenge. You are never ashamed, nor do you get embarrassed in front of others. Meeting new people is always fun for you, though you are sometimes quick to judge others based on first impressions.

Podcast Script + Pictures

Top: The machine in this picture is used to hold and shake the sample specimens. Shaking the samples will combine them with a chemical, allowing the microbiologist to review the reaction and note if the sample contains an infection.

Middle: In this picture, Patricia Libby is analyzing the cultures from the previous day. She is checking for organisms that cause infections to the human body. The red circle cases represent the cultures and are placed behind what is known as a hood. This hood protects the microbiologist from the air born contagious infection or any other means of spreading.

Bottom: This is a picture of a machine that takes readings from a culture or specimen and organizes the recordings into an easy to read print out. This print out is then reviewed by Patricia Libby to check for errors or minor problems.

Jesse Forrester

Professor Ann-Marie Yerks

Comp. 106

18 March 2009

The American Biologist

Complete Show Length in Minutes: 6 min 15 seconds

Episode 1: Topic: An inside look at a true American microbiologist.

Intro Music Clip: Title: Could You Be Loved (Bob Marley) Time: 15 sec

Intro: A Personal Look: Time: 1 min

Hello everyone! I am Jesse Forrester, and this is my podcast, “The American Biologist,” where I talk to current biologists about their career and day to day job experiences. For today’s show, I will be talking about a known microbiologist in the Canton, Michigan area, whose name is Patricia Lash-Libby. Microbiology is a branch of biology that consists of observing bacteria, cultures, patient’s specimens, and many other microscopic items found in the human body. Patricia has offered to give us some of her time to talk about herself and the type of work she does. We will see how Patricia was molded at a young age into liking biology, the path she took to be where she is today, the daily responsibilities of a microbiologist, and touch base on a few other smaller topics.

Segment Music Clip: Title: One Love (Bob Marley) Time: 15 sec

Segment: The Inside Look Time: 3 min 15 sec

Patricia’s first thought about biology came during her childhood years spent in Dearborn, when she dreamed of becoming a marine biologist. One can easily see why a person would pick such a field, with someone who is fascinated by animals and especially those living under water. This dream washed away at age 16 in a high school biology class, when Patricia fell in love with laboratory biology. Her love quickly became more comforting, when she realized marine biologists must work in deep water, which in its own scares her enough to choose a different branch of biology. While in college studying laboratory medicine for her medical technology degree, Patricia stumbled upon microbiology, and quickly began to care for this type of work. When asked about her typical day at work, she quickly responded with a smile and described every detail as if she was a child in a candy store. A microbiologist records everything, and as the supervisor of her department, Patricia spends a good amount of time observing the previous day’s recordings and double checking for mistakes. The day will start off with what is known as quality control, which consists of checking temperatures, changing back-up tapes, reviewing the print out from the previous day’s work, and looking at the screens on the instruments for any problems. After the quality control, cultures, such as a standard throat culture that you may receive at the doctors, from the previous day are looked at and examined for organisms that cause infections. As the supervisor, Patricia rarely sets up cultures, such as urines, throats, or wounds, though during the day a different microbiologist will have the responsibility of doing this. Following the culture exams, she enters what she titles “the boring and slow part of the day,” or known as reviewing antibiotic panels. Here, a microbiologist must make sure the results match the organism identified and relay this information via computers to the physician. In her opinion, Patricia finds this to be the more tedious and time consuming part of the day.
To spice up this podcast, we wanted to ask Patricia about her working environment, education, the low economy’s effect on her job, required clothing, and job salary. I have always felt a laboratory in relation to biology is very clean and white, though Patricia proved me otherwise. Her working environment consists of old and not so white equipment. She says, “Only very new labs brag of a white environment,” in response to the question. The lab may be old, though she strongly describes the cleanness of it and the fact that workers have to wear gloves, masks, strong leather shoes, a lab coat, and treat every specimen as if it is contagious. In addition to my surprise about the environment, I was also astonished about her response to the low economy’s effect on a microbiologist’s job. “My work environment has gotten busy. To survive, we have developed an outreach program that brings in specimens from doctors offices. Right now we are busy, but the future could look bleak if they chose to combine microbiology departments from all the satellite hospitals,” states Patricia. I think it’s nice to know that someone is benefitting off the lowest economy we have experienced in ages.

Moving on, I found that the education needed to become a microbiologist has not changed over the years, as she explains individuals still need a bachelor’s degree in medical technology and field experience in management and biology. Patricia not only has this education, along with countess hours on the field, she also currently has 30 years as a medical technologist and 20 years as a microbiologist. In a closing statement to her interview and in regards to her salary, she shows cheerfulness to the pay a microbiologist receives and announces that she does not plan to move up in her career.

End Segment Music Clip: Title: One Love (Bob Marley) Time: 15 seconds

Ending: Microbiology in The Future Time: 1 min 30 seconds

When you are sick or injured, and the doctor takes a blood sample, throat culture, or a sample from an open wound, the culture is taken to a microbiologist. Here, your culture is examined thoroughly to find causes of infections and ultimately subscribe an antibiotic. In a sense, microbiologists are the knowledge holders to make the sick cured and the wounded healed. As an opinionated question to the future of microbiology, Patricia sees nothing but growth and the introduction of greater technology to this field. This growth and rise in technology always seems good, though she also sees a machine doing many of her daily duties faster and more accurately. In no doubt microbiology is growing, however, Patricia does not see the advanced machines and computers appearing until her day has passed. She plans to retire within the next 20 years, and feels that she will always have a passion for microbiology. In two words, Patricia describes herself as organized and self motivated, which she believes are two important ingredients to becoming a successful microbiologists.

Goodbye everyone, my name is Jesse Forrester and this is my podcast, “The American Biologist,” where I talk to current biologists about their career and day to day job experiences. I want to give a big thank you to Patricia Lash-Libby for participating in today’s segment. In addition to this, I wish her good luck towards her future as a microbiologist and to the field of biology she resides in. This is “The American Biologist” podcast, and I am signing off.

Ending Music Clip: Title: Could You Be Loved (Bob Marley) Time: 15 seconds

Project II rough draft: Cells and Allergies

Jesse Forrester
Professor Ann-Marie Yerks
Composition 106
12 February 2009
Cells and Allergies

A student majoring in biology will research and study many topics surrounding evolution, the human body, cells, and the environment. To follow this major, I chose to first read an article based around cells and allergies. Using these two topics, I researched and found two additional articles that are also based around cells and allergies, though in different ways. The articles explain many changes in the human body, such as atopic dermatitis of hyperserotonemia, which have an effect on an individual’s allergies and their reactions. The following will summarize the three articles I read and what I learned while reading them. Each article is different in its own way, though the bridge between them all serves a link that largely includes the discussion of allergies and how the body is affected on a cellular level.

Per Brandtzaeg, author of “why we develop food allergies” from American Scientist (2007) and member of the American Scientist journal, suggests that there are many causes to food allergies, rather than just one. She develops her thesis first by concentrating on the immune systems of babies and how allergies develop at a young age, second, on oral tolerance and the effects of breast feeding opposed to cow milk, third, the secretory imnninogloblin A (SIgA) system and its effects at controlling the risk of food allergy, and lastly, the roles of t-cells in an immune system and their multiple effects on allergy tolerance. Brandtzeg’s purpose in her article is to show how the development of allergies is largely responsible for the malfunctioning of SIgA antibodies, an individual’s family history, and the origin country of the infant. By publishing an article largely based around infants and their allergic path from birth, Per Brandtzaeg has established a relationship with her audience of mothers and critics who search to find answers concerning their allergy wellness. This article taught me that many of the activities, such as breast feeding, diet, and the immune system of an infant is a large cause of food allergy. In addition to my leanings, I found it interesting that each individual has antigen-presenting cells that are the decision makers in the immune system and can cause immunity of certain food allergies.

The three authors, Lisa Forbes, Rushani Saltzman, and Jonathan Spergel, of the article “Food allergies and Atopic Dermatitis: Differentiating Myth from Reality” from Periodic Annals (2009), argue that children with moderate to severe Atopic Dermatitis have a larger chance of also acquiring food allergies, then children without Atopic Dermatitis. They explain their argument by first explaining the mechanisms causing food related reactions, second, by relating these mechanisms to food reactions in children with atopic dermatitis, third, explaining how to evaluate an individual (physically and through their history) when determining if their reactions are allergy and atopic dermatitis related, and lastly, by performing studies on over 50 patients to determine if those with atopic dermatitis show signs of food allergy as well. Their purpose is to prove that patients who have atopic dermatitis need to be evaluated for food allergies, and do this by using the topics discussed above. The article has allowed the authors to create a relationship with their audience of individuals who have atopic dermatitis, and seek to find a link between their disease and food allergies. After reading this article, I found it interesting that a large amount (over 40 percent) of the studied patients who have this skin disease actually had food allergies as well and did not know it. Furthermore, these patients then found out that many of their skin outbreaks, initially diagnosed as atopic dermatitis, was in response to eating a food they were allergic to.

In their essay “Hyperserotonemia in Egyptian autistic children: Relation to allergic manifestations” from Journal of Pediatric Neurology (2008), Gehan Mostafa, Dalia El-Sherif, Rasha Hamza, and Abeer Shehab suggest that hyperserotonemia, a syndrome that results in elevated serotonin levels in the body, is the reason behind the increased frequency of allergic manifestations in autism children. They support their position by first giving an introduction to autism and its effects on the body, second, by performing a large control-based study on 80 children, half of whom were autistic and the other healthy, which examined their serotonin levels and how these levels related to the amount of allergic manifestations, third, by doing a discussion to announced their findings during the study. In this article, their purpose is to prove children with autism and who suffer from elevated serotonin levels in the body are exposed to an increased severity in allergic reactions. This article develops a relationship with mothers hosting an autistic child or children with allergies, who are concerned for their child’s health and strive to decrease the intensity of their allergic reactions. After reading some of the study statistics, I was shocked to find out that 75 percent of children with autism and hyperserotonemia, showed a higher frequency of allergic reactions than those without hyperserotonemia. In addition, I found it interesting that out of males and females who both had autism and hyperserotonemia, all males were found to have high frequency levels of allergic reactions than the females.

Each article proposed a different thesis, though all are similar in that they include allergies in the human body. Strongly emphasizing on biology, the authors manage to support their thesis by taking their experiments and proof down to the cellular level. In addition to experiments, the articles contained a large amount of background knowledge to give the reader a full understanding of the topic. I thought the articles were well developed and allowed critics, such as myself, to obtain research information and summarize them easily.

Activity II

After reading the assignment proposal, I immediately knew I wanted to find a poem, and construct a shape, that represented the attacks on September 11. This day has a large impact on everyone's lives and carries a lot of meaning, so I felt this topic was very appropriate. I knew I wanted to shape the poem to look like the twin towers, though a shape so easy can still be very difficult.



These words carry a grief and sad emotion, and represent the attacks on September 11, though the reader has to read the entire poem to realize this. I wanted to give the readers an image that does not reveal the poem too much, yet gets them interested. The shape is simple, and in its own has the potential to resemble many different poems. The poem itself, with the numerous short word phrases, was very good for constructing the shape of the twin towers. To make all the phrases seem the same length, I often had to increase the line spacing between words. In addition to lengthening the spaces, I chose to color the corresponding lines, interchangeably, red and blue. I did this to represent the United States and the patriotic, sad, feeling to the poem. I feel strongly about the attacks on September 11 and pray for those who lost their loved ones every year on this date. The shape of the words and the words of the poem become one when a reader dives into this poem, and the colors give the reader a patriotic feeling.

My favorite lines, though are not found together in the poem, are "The rain is ashes," and "The rain falls down." These two lines place a very clear picture in my head of the twin towers, that everyone seen that day on the news. I immediately pictured the large pieces of debris falling from the towers onto the ground. I feel these two line were placed in the poem to make the reader visualize this, which for me, causes the emotions to pour out of the words. The words found in this poem also symbolize the people's feelings, the darkness of the day, and how slow this sorrow moment took to pass. The poem does a good job at repeating words as well, to get them stuck in the readers head and cause them to think. I find repetitiveness the most effective way in reaching someone's emotions, in this case, the poem does just that.

I understand the picture is not very clear, I ran into this problem when I didnt know how to transfer my shape to a JPEG, so I was forced to take a screen shot.

Project #1 Reflection

This is by far one of the more creative type projects that I have done. After choosing my topic, I began to dig deep into it and everything seemed to fall in place. I think the website idea was a good choice because I found it hard to express everything concerning this topic in just six photos. Creating a website is still very new for me, however I am happy with my final result. Deciding on what to put on each page was a small hill, though after researching more, those pages quickly filled up. My website has six pages, each containing a different type of information to give the reader an understanding of the topic. This site contains an introduction, background knowledge, pictures, videos, personal stories, and my personal essay on the last page. I put a table of contents on each page, which resulted in easy navigation throughout the website. I wanted to get more creative with this, though my knowledge behind creating a website is limited and I had to just give it my best shot. Overall, I am very pleased with the result and hope the hard work pays off.

The essay, though a little longer than I wanted, contains a large amount of information to support my advocating proposal. Deciding how to format the paper, such as how many paragraphs to have and what to have in them, was an initial problem for me. I decided to stick with the standard five paragraph essay and devote only one body paragraph to proposing the advocation. The other body paragraphs, leading up to the proposal, give the reader a complete understanding of the topic.

The photos above are snapshots taken from three different pages on my website. As seen in the pictures, the appearance of my site is straight forward, with an all black background and headlines in bold red lettering. I like this look and feel that it makes the site look more professional and easy to read. The website link is...

http://sites.google.com/site/athousandbombs/Home

Advocation

When thinking about my topic, I knew I wanted to choose a topic that I was both interested in and motivated by. To satisfy these two, I narrowed my search down to two topics, animal cruelty and bomb testing. These are two topics that I may not have very strong feelings for, however, they interest me and I have no problem advocating for them. Both these topics contain an extensive amount of information and photos, making the research for the two easy and fun.

I chose to advocate for no more bomb testing by the United States. After doing some reasearch, I became very interested in the topic and became satisfied with advocating for the subject. The amount of indivuals who sufferd and are still suffering from these bomb droppings is mind blowing and stomach crunching. The bomb's radiation have the ability to affect individuals thousands of miles away from the actual testing sites. The radiation causes extreme cases of cancer, mutation, and a wide variety of other illnesses. Atleast half of the 215 bombs exploded were done at the Nevada Test Site and the others at Pacific test sites. Extensive searches have been done to show others the horrible effects of these bombs and that these effects will stick around for years to come.

My project will include photos and a written essay, both concerning the effects of bomb testing and why stopping them can do nothing but benefit the United States. I want to include photos to that bring the cancers and illnesses to life for the reader. I believe choosing photos is one of the key aspects to this project, because it can bring my words in the essay to reality for the reader. I want to include cold hard facts about the bomb testing that can hopefully change the reader's view tward the subject.

Screen Capture Of Your Desktop

After reading this assignment, I became very confused, mostly because taking a screen shot of my computer is extremley new to me. After messing around with it for a while, I realized this feature is actually interesting and I began to think more about the contents on my screen. In this picture I have three windows open that consist of the internet, iTunes, and my Biology 130 lecture notes. While on my computer, these are the usual windows open, with an exception to the Biology 130 notes, that can be other class notes as well. I usually have iTunes open becuase I enjoy listening to music while doing my homework and I think doing so makes me a better worker. I have a window containing my Biology 130 notes becuase I am often looking back at my notes and finishig them because my teacher lectures fast. The final window, containing the internet with tabs consiting of Blogger, UMD email, and C-Tools, is almost always open when I am on the computer. I am always on my email, continuously recieving email from teachers and financial aid, C-Tools checking for new class assignments, and rarely Blogger.com, which I usually only use for composition classes. After analyzing my picure I realized I have a lot on my screen at once. This tells me that I am a multitasker and doing so does not phaze me.

I thought for a long time on how to answer the two questions posted with this assignment. The questions are somewhat confusing, though I will try to answer them to my fullest capability. I think composing changes shape in digital spaces by making it more summarized. I say this because when I work on my computer with these windows open, I am involved in each with much detail. However, when looking at the picture, I can summarize what I am doing in just a few sentences becuase the digital space shows all this at once. I think we can better understand digital composing processes by doing them more often and looking at them in further detail. If this is an example of digital processing, which I think it is, I think we can understand them more by answering more question concerning them, exploring them, and ultimatley doing more of them.