This I Believe
For my This I Believe podcast, I want to take a small, daily task or habit of mine and use it as a vehicle to say something about who I am and how I view the world. When thinking of daily habits, I came up with two things that I do every single day that I believe can help explain why I am the way that I am.
Every night, before I go to bed, I write in a journal one thing from that day that I am thankful for. The avenue that I would take in developing this idea would be to emphasize my belief in the importance of written word in order to express one’s self. The other daily habit that I am considering focusing on is my daily prayer. While many people of all different faiths pray everyday and for a variety of reasons, I do mine in a unique way: while showering, brushing my teeth, and shaving. A priest I spoke to last year told me I should reconsider when I pray because he didn’t think I was focused enough on it. However, I believe incorporating that time of reflection into a morning routine makes it mean more to me because it is part of how I get ready and prepare myself for the day. I believe that mentally and spiritually preparing oneself for the day is just as important as the physical preparations.
Passion Blog Ideas
My passion blog last semester focused on social media and everything that it enables its users to do every day. This semester, I plan on broadening my focus to modern forms of media in general and paying additional attention to issues that they present, as opposed to just analyzing ways that they can be used. Controversial topics that I plan on addressing this semester include privacy, ethics, accuracy, bias, and modern forms of libel. I am very displeased with the current state of our media and the ways that it is misusing all of the Internet’s many practical and useful application. I am going to be writing to millennials who are equally frustrated with not knowing what is true, what agendas are being pushed, and who is controlling their information. I hope that by the end of the semester, I’ll have found ways that the modern mass media can improve and even a few honest, ethical, and reliable outlets.
Civic Issue Blog ideas
I want to gear this blog towards issues regarding education, specifically higher education. Although not nearly as controversial as the other options like race or the environment, education is a very relevant issue to us as college students, whether it be astronomical tuitions and student debt, the purpose of an education, or the pressure placed on students of all levels in the United States. Our education system is quite flawed and much more demanding than those of other countries, which actually test better than we do as a country. This semester, I want to explore why and how we got to where we are today.
Response to This I believe
Personally, I really like both of your ideas. I consider myself to be spiritual and I believe that everyone must have their own connection to their god. To further expand this topic I would go deeper into the story of the priest telling you to reconsider your praying times. You can go into how you felt when he told you this and if it made you question religion and the rules and restrictions it imposes.
If I had to choose between the two topics I would pick the second one because it has intriguing substance that you could go into. However, if you want you could in some way tie in routine in general you could then go into journaling and how that keeps you grounded along with your prayer routine and how that keeps you grounded as well.
Response to Passion Blog Ideas
Your topic is has great substance and I look forward to reading your opinions in the areas you mention. The only thing that I would advise is that you can broaden your audience if you simply make a comparison of the medias issues today with those of the past. For instance, I would touch on how people felt about the accuracy of today’s media and how they felt about the accuracy of the past’s media.
Response to Civic Issue Blog Ideas
I have done some research on this topic and find this topic very interesting as well. This is a topic that will attract a broad audience so that is a great thing. Be sure to take advantage by relating to all age groups. In at least one of your post I would like to see specific examples of how our education system differs from others and the proven pros and cons. If you would like to look at the flaws and general root of our educational system I believe this link (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=36x39hNZ4uY ) will give you great insight.