April 2021 – RCL 2 Blogs

Passion – #7 Parks and Recreation

Throughout the passion blogs I have written this semester, I have mainly focused on how a show in general gave me a new perspective or insight into something. For my last blog, I thought it would be significant to mention, instead, how a single character has had profound influence on my life. From watching one of my favorite shows growing up in, “Parks and Recreation,” I was able to observe a character arc in one of my favorite characters from any TV show I’ve ever watched. Ron Swanson, a very masculine and stern character at the beginning of the show, is able to experience one of the most inspiring transitions (at least personally) from any character I have watched in other shows.

Parks and Recreation is a comedy sitcom TV show that follows a “mockumentary” style, which is a type of show that reflects a realistic environment with a camera crew filming. This show follows the Parks and Recreation branch of government of the fictional town of Pawnee, Indiana. Characters featured in the show are these government workers who work to maintain landmarks in a town that is far too corrupt to be concerned with the parks system. One notable character in the show is the main character Leslie Nope, who is constantly active around her job and complemented well by the reserved and isolated nature of her boss, Ron Swanson.

Ron was one of the most… interesting characters I have ever encountered in the show. His very government-less ideology perfectly juxtaposes the formality of the job he works in as he is constantly attempting to cut down on as much government funding as possible from “within the beast.” This is demonstrated through multiple moments early in the show, such as this moment when Ron states he says he likes it when he “lowers the enthusiasm,” of his coworkers. More importantly, he constantly refuses help from others such as these hilarious moments of being as non compliant as possible, such as when he avoids questioning at a government hearing or when he humbles a Lowe’s worker asking if he needs help. Ron even states that he’s “interested in not caring about others,” and that he allegedly worked with someone for 3 years without ever knowing his name. Clearly the only thing he wants is to be as isolated as possibly, without any help from the others. He wants to live in his own world.

Remarkably, one of the greatest changes occurs during the later seasons of the show. Ron meets Diane, a widow with two little (and very loud) children. Although he really likes this character, he is hesitant to become a part of the family as he typically prefers being more alone. However, after spending some time with them, he admits that he is not that experienced in raising children but would like to try. Afterwards, he spends the rest of the show learning the ways of fatherhood and becoming a more social person in the community.

After watching this show for years, I was admittedly inspired by this story. As I have stated in previous blogs, I was a very shy child in my younger years to the point where I would enjoy spending time alone more than socializing. It was very comforting to see a character such as Ron struggling with a very similar problem. After observing his transition, I knew I had the chance to replicate his success. Nearing my middle school years, I remember I made it a goal to reach out to others and embrace change. I would participate more in class, get involved more with extracurricular activities and try to reach out to as many people as possible. This has implications to the present day as I am in a new environment in college. Although it is easy to get confined to the dorm room with virtual classes, I try to get out as much as possible.

Through watching this show and many of the other ones mentioned in previous blogs, I am appreciative of the different perspectives it provided me. From the change of Ron Swanson’s character, I was able to view how a person who has no concern for others can embrace a change and become a more outgoing and loving person. Similarly I have tried my best to be as outgoing as possible and to embrace change which I struggled with in my early years. I have also looked to integrate it into my college and going forward.

RCL Eportfolio Ideas

For the Eportfolio project, I have chosen to use wix.com as the platform I will use to present my project. From the websites provided, it I believe I will be best suited to use this website because in comparison with the other websites, I feel like I would be most comfortable with a website that caters for beginners. For example, Weebly.com is known for being more ‘restrictive’ than the Wix website and has been found to be more difficult for inexperienced users compared to other sites such as Wix. Additionally, I would prefer the drag-and-drop format for website building as I am very inexperienced when it comes to building my own website. Therefore, I would likely be entering new territory when using sites like WordPress, which is a more open-ended website that requires more technical experience in creating a website in which I have little to no experience in.

For the actual project, I have decided that I wanted to take a more career-driven direction, such as an internship, research lab or job I would be interested in joining either in my time in Penn State or when I graduate. As I am still considering my options, I am likely going to create a resume that could be viewed for a research lab since I am currently currently searching for one for the Schreyers Thesis project. The audience will probably be a professor or a researcher who runs a local lab that I would potentially want to join. For the tabs on the website, I was considering making for each academic year that I want to discuss during the project. For example, I could make one for sophomore, junior, and senior year from high school, and then make one for freshmen year of college. For the artifacts, I could incorporate research experience I have had in the past such as the internship I had at a physical therapy office or a high school research project I was involved in.

Passion – #6 Drake and Josh

Sibling relationships are complicated. Anyone who has a sibling can probably relate to the feeling of constant nagging and bickering complemented by tough love and compromise. Having an older brother myself, I have run the gauntlet of every type of pain a younger brother should experience: assuming the pain for a broken window before I knew how to throw a baseball, being a victim of the binocular prank where sharpie added to the rims of binoculars leaves black circles around the eyes (which was especially fun when my class photos were the next day), and getting uncharged controller when playing video games. Among all this ‘torture’ I went through, I was also able to experience some heartfelt moments such as when we went to our first basketball game together, when I got to wear some of my his older football gear that he wore when he played, and when he was my sponsor for my confirmation. Being a younger brother came with its benefits.

No show portrayed sibling relationships more accurately than one of my favorite TV shows of all time, “Drake and Josh.” This show follows the life of step brothers Drake and Josh after their parents marry. As the show provides a view of the high schoolers as they go through their early teen years, the emphasis is really on the relationship that grows between the two during the show. While watching this show in my early years, I looked to integrate this brotherly love into my own life.

Some of my greatest moments watching this show was observing the growing bond between both brothers. In the first episode, there is a clear disconnect between Drake and Josh, which comes at a comedic moment when Drake first finds out of the news. While Josh rejoices and embraces him, Drake looks at the camera with the most disturbed look. Another example early in the show is highlighted in a hilarious fight that erupts immediately following a bet between the two brothers. Again, the show demonstrates this initial disconnect between the two brothers as they learn to live with each other. This could also be observed in later episodes as a disagreement between the brothers while driving leads them to unintentionally drive right into Oprah Winfrey. Once more, even if these moments are accompanied with some humor, the overall message that is clearly being delivered is that all siblings tend to fight and that it is a natural part of the relationship. These moments along with countless others contribute to the realistic nature of the show.

The show continues to portray this realistic relationship with several bonding moments between the brothers. For example, one of my favorite memories of the show is when Drake and Josh are stuck in the back of a cop car when a thief hijacks the car and takes them on a ride. This provides one of the greatest built up jokes of the show that I highly recommend watching. Perhaps, one of the most heartfelt moments between the two occurs after Josh refuses to consider Drake his brother following some disagreement. After some time passes, Drake realises that he needs Josh a lot more than he needs him, which leads to a very emotional moment in the show. These moments demonstrate that while they could be annoying at times, siblings are a very important part of your life that you shouldn’t take for granted.

Moments like these made me consider how thoughtful I was toward my own brother, no matter how much we fought in the past. This brought me to one of the memorable experiences I had with my brother. After one of my toughest days in school, I came home to discover that my iPad screen was shattered. I knew that the only person that was home at the time was my brother but he denied it when I confronted him. This led to the argument getting escalated to the point where I needed to run to my room to sulk at my desk. After an hour, I heard no movement in my living room. When I went downstairs, I saw my brother sobbing with his head in his hands. Without any words, I helped him up and embraced. He later shared with me that he was also having a very rough day after hearing about his SAT scores and in a fit of rage threw something at the wall that accidentally landed on my iPad, shattering the screen. He said he needed to that have a moment between us or he would have been in a very low place.

While Drake and Josh have provided me countless moments from its comedic genius, I will always value the tight brotherly bond I was able to observe watching the show. Many sibling relationships incorporate a lot of annoyance and sometimes hatred. However, giving time for a relationship to grow can establish a stronger bond. While helping my brother up, I tried my best to commemorate the famous lyrics from their theme song, “you know I will always be there to pick you up when you’re down.”

RCL Advocacy Project

For my advocacy project, I was considering taking the path oriented to my civic issues blog. In these blogs, I discuss how star athlete players such as Kobe Bryant, Lebron James, Derek Jeter and many more give back to lower income communities, especially ones that helped develop them into the people that they are today. I think that it would be thoughtful in the same notion to support those around us in a community that developed us such as Penn State and the surrounding area. Although it is still a 3 hour drive away, there are a lot of people in the City of Philadelphia who need financial support. I was thinking that maybe I could make a 3 minute video about their current struggles to find jobs escpecially in a COVID-19 era and express some ways to help such as supporting local charities or volunteering.

I believe the article is a piece of advocacy because it expresses a true story that is meant to play to the emotional side of the reader. The way that the writyer portrays the story gives the reader a realistic view into a very dark situation. In addition, the end of the article cites its support of the Violence Against Women Act, thus has a purpose of the reader to also support this cause.

Passion – #5 Spongebob Squarepants

Turning back the clock, it is mandatory to include Spongebob Squarepants among the one of the most influential shows in my life. This classic cartoon show featured on Nickelodeon was imminent during during my childhood and is admittedly still relevant during my college years. I think all who have watched the show have felt the urge to sing the “Campfire Song” once or twice while huddled over a flame. This very simple TV show still holds a place in my heart for the lessons its taught me over the years. One of the ongoing themes that are expressed over the show is the acceptance of others regardless of their flaws.

Of course as a cartoon TV show targeted for children, the show creator Stephen Hellienberg found many opportunities to integrate lessons into the episodes. This is not the case for all episodes as there is a whole episode devoted to Spongebob and his friend Patrick obsessing over a cardboard box. Meanwhile, other’s have lessons within the comedy of their content. Many of these episodes echo a common theme of friendship and emphasize the significance of ignoring other’s flaws to see them as the real person they are. For example, one of my earliest memories of the show was watching an episode called, “F.U.N.” If you were not fortunate enough to sit through spongebob singing one of the catchiest songs of all time, trust me when I say the quality gets better the more numb your ears get from overplaying it. The episode demonstrates the idea of arch enemies bonding. This occurs after an antagonist character named Plankton, who is notorious for attempting to steal the Krabby Patty Secret formula, gradually becomes friends with Spongebob who’s job is to protect the secret formula. This leads to the song “FUN” where Spongebob teaches Plankton the values of friendship regardless of Plankton’s reputation of being evil.

Another example is in an episode entitled, “Ripped Pants,” which also contains a very catchy song to help reiterate the point. During this episode, a weight competition is being held on a beach. In order to impress the likes of Sandy Cheeks, Spongebob’s crush, he attempts to deadlift two teddy bears which subsequently creates a rip down the seams of his trousers. After sulking with the pain of humiliation, Spongebob later finds comfort in others who have also been humiliated on the beach such as one that is sunburnt and one that has sand in their buns… hamburger buns of course. Together, they overcome their flaws and throw a rager of a concert to get the attention of Sandy Cheeks which ends in a success.

Reminiscing back to intermediate school, the messages these episodes were trying to express had implications to a time where I was a very shy person. This didn’t come as a surprise as I used to be one of the shortest kids in the grade which made it very difficult to put myself out there at fear of rejection because of my flaw. There was one kid that was always super generous to me, yet I had always avoided them because of their intense lisp. Inspired by the Spongebob episode, I eventually found the courage to talk to him. Although this was unfortunately not accompanied by a catchy song, I was able to befriend this person who I remain in touch with.

As I will continue to watch Spongebob at an age that is likely inappropriate to still watch, I will always retain the lessons that the show has provided me, especially the notion of accepting others. Episodes like F.U.N and ripped pants maintain that I should always be open-minded when it comes to others and not count out anyone because of their flaws. Hopefully, whoever reading this can accept that I still watch Spongebob episodes in my late teens.

Passion – #4 Breaking Bad

I would consider Breaking bad as my favorite show of all time, yet many would question what type of positive influences this could have on me. After all, how can a show based around the idea of formulating a meth empire in the US southwest provide any applicable life messages. This just speaks to the brilliance of the show. With fantastic cinematography and one of the most clever greatest storylines of television history, creator and writer Vince Gilligan was able to establish the new standard for high production in television history. After only 5 seasons, Breaking Bad became one of the most highly regarded tv shows in its time. Winning countless Emmy’s, Golden Globes, and just about any TV show related accolade in the world, the public demanded more. The spinoff which still airs as a show called, “Better Call Saul” has been comparable in quality enough for people to debate if this was even better than its source material. In addition, a spinoff movie entitled “El Camino” was critics favorite movie. However, this blog will only incorporate the influence that Breaking Bad had on my life.

The show is focused on Walter White, a high school chemistry teacher who’s brilliance was never able to be put to use due to the complications of life. Within the first episode, Walter discovers that he is suffering from lung cancer which is commonly the most difficult news to internalize. However, when Walter is first given this news, the show writers cleverly demonstrate his lack of focus on the topic, focusing the camera in on a mustard stain on the Doctor’s lab coat. This comes as a somewhat dark satire on the formality of hearing bad medical news as this short scene takes a dark humor approach to traditional reactions. This lack of focus on the real world environment and emphasis on the growth of a character is a common motif of the show. As a devoted fan of the show, it becomes clear that the creators main goal is to emphasize a theme within the dark reality of entering into such a dangerous business. With the glory and the violent nature of growing a drug empire, what the show really wants to highlight is a character breaking out of a social norm to do something he is passionate about (even though that passion may be producing copious amounts of illicit substances).

This appears multiple times in the show’s history, specifically the first time that Walter produces some of his product. Although this scene (warning: this scene shows a variety of methods of producing Methamphetamines. Please avoid if sensitive to this type of content) contains something as corrupt as producing meth, the show writers put a somewhat spirited montage for it. This comes in the form of his partner Jesse filming Walter in his undergarments and Jesse messing around in a very dangerous environment. This is all played over upbeat music while a crime is occuring in the forefront. Again, while the show is demonstrating this sort of frowned upon activity, its main focus is on a person who is doing something that they enjoy, which is complemented by the upbeat music and the playful nature.

Of course while trying to integrate this in my own life, I obviously would want to exclude any illegal activity. However, I feel that this show has had an ongoing influence on me. For example, going into highschool, I really had no clue what I wanted my future in college to be. Although I originally considered what job could be the most profitable, it was telling that doing something I love would be better for my future. With influences like Breaking Bad, I believed it would be a better approach to do something I am passionate about as opposed to something that I could make the most money. I knew I was always passionate about the medical field. However, I have always been an avid fan of sports. Deciding to go where my passions lie, I am proudly taking courses in Penn State that will orient toward my passion in medicine and in sports. During college and in the future, I hope to pursue my passion in sports medicine or athletic surgery in the field of orthopedics.

Reflecting on my favorite show of all time, I consider how it has changed my mindset going forward. Although this show took a dark spin on the topic of drug manufacturing, the creators really wanted to emphasize the mantra of chasing your dreams. As I continue to strive for a career in sports medicine, I will never forget the influence that Breaking Bad had on me to pursue my passions in life.

RCL Issue Brief Draft #1

How often do you consider your wealth as an escape from the ambiguity of unemployment, especially during this COVID-19 pandemic? Probably not too often as we are generally well- supported students who live in a state that provides sufficient assistance to those who are unemployed. This is not the case everywhere in the US, however, as many citizens lack affordable options in the case of unemployment across the country. This does not come as a surprise as an astonishing 12 states have yet to adopt Medicaid within the Affordable Care Act. Medicaid is a type of financial assistance whose purpose is to provide aid to citizens who have lost their insurance coverage, which has recently developed into a national problem due to the economic drought caused by the current pandemic. It was reported that 20.6 million people within the US have lost their jobs because of the virus, bringing the unemployment rate to 14.7% which are historical numbers not seen since the Great Depression of the 1930’s (1). As a result, millions of families mostly concentrated in low income areas have been relegated to unemployment, with many losing their availability to proper insurance as they live in a state that has yet to adopt the Medicaid system. In these “non-expansion states”, citizens who are unemployed are not eligible for this financial assistance which can provide them aid until the COVID-19 restrictions subsides. Therefore, it is necessary for a system change to legislate expansion of Medicaid into all states of the US.

The lack of affordable options has been an ongoing problem within the US years before the pandemic had become relevant. The coverage gap is a term given to individuals who are eligible for Medicaid based on their income and below the premium tax credit minimum, yet Medicaid is not available to them because they live in non-expansion states that have not adopted the Medicaid program. According to recent available data, as of 2019, nationally there are approximately 2 million uninsured adults that fall into this “coverage gap” category. Of this population, adults who do not have children are regarded as ineligible for medicaid which is demonstrated as 77% of this coverage gap consists of independent adults (2). The shocking reality is that these numbers will likely increase with the current COVID-19 guidelines if these states decide to not adopt the medicaid program. The current regime for medicaid adoption is shown in figure 1.

Figure 1. Map of Current Expansion / Nonexpansion States as of March 31, 2021 (3)

There is a clear pattern of distribution demonstrated in the graph as more of the southern and midwestern states have the majority of “Not Adopted” or “Adopted but Not Implemented.” For these states, it doesn’t come as a shock that they also contain the largest concentration of uninsured people. For example, the majority of people in the coverage gap (more than 33%) are situated in Texas which has the highest uninsured population of the US. The preceding states in the ranking of the uninsured populations also consist of states who have not adopted Medicaid: 19% Florida, 12% Georgia, 10% North Carolina (4). It is evident that these states would maintain these numbers if no changes are implemented.

Expanding this medicaid program during this ongoing pandemic would have implications for groups most in need such as healthcare workers, minorities, and more. Due to the COVID-19, it was estimated that expanding the medicaid to non expansion states would provide financial assistance to at least 4 million uninsured adults which is an understatement as we currently reside in a recession. For essential workers such as hospital workers, health aids and grocery stop workers, Medicaid could provide aid to approximately 650,000 of these workers. Since the COVID-19 restrictions caused the most job loss in low income areas, the groups that were most impacted by the lack of affordable coverage were minority groups. If all states were to adopt Medicaid, most of the people who would gain coverage are people of color. According to recent statistics, Hispanics would comprise 29% eligible people and black citizens would comprise 23%. This would be significant as it was also reported that half of low income families as well as 44% of Black adults and 61% of Hispanic adults said that at least one person in the household was left unemployed or with a severe pay cut as a result of the pandemic. With these current statistics, it is difficult to say that expanding medicaid to all states would not help countless uninsured people, such as frontline workers or minorities, get the proper coverage they need. (5)

How can we help produce a change in policy to allow for further expansion of medicaid? This solution boils down to the conception of the issue. In 2012, the Supreme Court case of National Federation of Independent Business (NFIB) v. Sebelius originally established the rule that states could decide if they want to adopt the Medicaid program, thus the original mandate of medicaid in all states was reformed. This came after the NFIB and others stated that the “law of individual health insurance” did not fall under the jurisdiction of the Congress under the Commerce Clause of Article 1. They stated at the time that it would become a “national plan to provide universal health insurance coverage.” (6) However, this was relevant at the time where the complications of a global pandemic were not present. Clearly, if the restrictions persist and the amount of people uninsured in the non expansion states continues to grow, it would require the implementation of changes to deal with this. Therefore, this would require a system change for Congress to potentially regain transient control to allow for the expansion of medicaid. Expansion would not come at a large economical cost as the federal government currently pays 90% of the expansion coverage (7). In other states that have adopted Medicaid, their budget savings actually saw increases in net revenue. This could help stabilize the economy and provide aid to those who are not already covered.

In conclusion, expansion of Medicaid is necessary in the face of this current COVID-19 pandemic. The past has demonstrated that the largest populations of the uninsured population remain in states that have not adopted the medicaid program. Statistics have indicated that the 4 million uninsured adults who are currently in coverage gap will continue to grow with the recession and that the people most impacted will be frontline workers and minorities. Therefore, it is necessary to implement a system change that can come in the form of mandating the states to adopt Medicaid while we are in this state of urgency.