Contrary to popular belief, food waste is not only what remains on plates after a meal, food waste is also what never made it on to a plate in the first place. In fact, if we discard paper, food waste is the single largest material waste in the Unites States (2010 figures). According to The U.S Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) American’s waste 33 million tons of food each year[i]. To put it simply, American’s waste enough food to fill up The Rose Bowl every day in the span of one year[ii]. Ironically enough 40% of all food produced in America never makes it “to the plate” since today we discard more food than what we consume, and yet one in every six American’s starves[iii]. One of the greater catalysts of this issue are American Universities and Colleges Dinning Halls, which produce 3.6 million tons of food waste, contributing 2% of America’s annual food waste1.

Most Universities and colleges in America require students who live on campus to purchase a dinning plan, which allow students to dine at any on-campus food hall. Dinning plan’s, or meal plan’s, differ from University to University in pricing and policy. For example, at the Pennsylvania State University student’s can choose in between different “meal plans levels” which depending on the pricing, students will receive points that can be used to either purchase individual meals or snacks, or enter any dinning hall, which functions like an all you can eat buffet. Other Universities, such as Florida International University offer a standard rate plan, which students pay in order to get unlimited access to any dinning hall that function like 24 hours all you can eat buffet. Regardless of the dinning policy implemented by the Universities, however, most Universities and Colleges follow the all you can eat buffet dinning hall characteristics. Because Dinning Halls offer students all you can eat buffets, students tend to grab more food than what they will actually eat which creates a major problem, dinning halls prepare more food than what will actually be consumed by student’s[iv].

Even though a few of American Universities and Colleges and their suppliers, like Aramark and Sodexo, are beginning to take initiatives to decrease dinning hall food waste, through campaigns that display 1 day worth of food waste in the entrance of cafeterias for 30 minutes to create awareness, for instance, “the average college students is still generating 142 pounds of food waste yearly.”[v] Therefore one question is left to ask, what actions can American Universities and College Dinning Halls take to reduce food waste, and yet continue to provide students an array of food choices?

Do Tray’s Make a Difference?

Recently, both Sodexo and Aramark, suggested their clients to remove all trays from dinning halls as an attempt to reduce food waste. According to Sodexo an Aramark, by removing trays from dinning halls, Universities are forcing students to look around a dinning hall and grab only what they will it rather than compelling food plates on their tray iv. Sodexo and Aramark’s suggestions stimulated the University of Main at Farmington to conduct a study, in which they found that, in effect, by removing food trays from University’s dinning halls an institution could reduce food waste by anywhere between 25 to 30%[i].

Additionally, Sodexo also released statements that encouraged Universities to adopt tray-less dinning campus halls policies since it would also reduce water waste by avoiding it’s use in the process of cleaning it’s tray. In effect, Sodexo stated that if universities adopted tray-less policies they could potentially reduce 200 galloons of water for every 1,000 meals served. The University of Main at Farmington found evidence that does not only agree with the statements released by Sodexo, but also released estimates of how much money Universities could potentially save through water savings. According to the study conducted, The University of Main at Farmington found that the annual 288,288 galloons of water that could be saved through this policy would be equivalent to $57,000 worth on savings iv.

A couple of Universities across The United States, including The University of Maine at Farmington, have already begun to implemented tray-less campus dinning halls as a reaction to this finding. Harvard University, for instance, adopted tray-less policies as part of their Clean Plate Club. Through this club, Harvard orders specific foods that students prefer and boxes them as servings, in order to prevent students from accumulating plates of food iv.

How can we deal with the “food scraps”?

Perhaps one of the biggest issues, if not the biggest issue, with food waste in University’s dinning halls are the scraps that are left in the dinning halls buffet after closing. In fact, most of the food left cooked and un touched by students usually remains inside dinning halls kitchens and thrown away before even being displayed in the dinning halls buffets. These “scraps”, are in effect, what contribute to America’s second largest material waste – after paper – since almost half of all food waste (40%) is thrown out in such manner [ii]. Nevertheless, it is important to take into consideration the numerous policies that currently exist that force Universities to throw away food scraps in order to prevent any food intoxication. Depending on the health policies that a certain university is entitled to in retrospect to the State, a University may have to hold itself accountable to either continuously change foods that have been in displaced for a long period of time under buffet flames, three to three and a half hours per see, or “recycle their food” by reusing certain ingredients. For example, a food hall may use the remainders of the salad bar that were provided during lunch may be used to provide a veggie pizza during dinner. However, the “recycling food” process may decrease the quality of food and thereby counteract by creating more waste since students may pot for other choices of food that might hold better quality. Thereby the original “food scrap” that was used to recreate a meal created additional waste and, as a result, rather than providing a solution for the original problem, it created an additional problem.

Perhaps one of the fastest growing organizations that strives’ to solve the “food scrap” on a University Dinning Hall scale is The Food Recovery Network (FRN). FRN is a student-run organization that originated in The University of Maryland in 2011 with the goal of creating awareness of the food waste that University Dinning Halls create by taking the “food scraps” the these dinning halls create every night to local food banks and home shelters once the dinning halls have closed. During the course of four years, from 2011 to 2015, The FRN have managed to branch out to 135 College and University campuses across America and have donated over 688,148 pounds of “food scraps” to the local community vii. To put numerically, The US Department of Education states that there are currently around 4,861 Universities and Colleges from which only 135 (36%) have worked with The FRN, and yet these institutes have manages to donate over half a million pounds of edible un touched “food scrapes” to the community[iii].

Because The FRN, is ran by students it is not costly to the University. In fact, because the FRN is ran by students, the Universities and Colleges that network with the organization is able to save money and in return invest more money in the campus itself. The money that the educational institutions is able to economize is due to the fact that The FRN ensures that all of the food that will be relocated from the dinning hall to the food bank or shelter is done via students – whether it is walking or by car – the fact that the FRN organization develops in the Universities as a club once it has been implemented ensures that this step is taken in such manner. Therefore, as a result, the original money that a University or College had as a budget to ensure the disposal of these “scraps” can be invested in other areas of education vii.

How much food “waste” could Universities and Colleges save through organizations?

Even though 36% of all higher level educational institutions have opted to work with the FRN, there is still a significant amount of Universities (64%) that are most likely dumping food that could potentially help lower areas of the community vii. Even though the amount of Universities that could join forces with organizations such as The FRN is high, the amount of food waste that each of these Universities and Colleges could potentially prevent is even higher, and thereby more significant. According to Recycling Networks, a network company designed to help various institutions and corporations such as companies reduce food waste, a viable formula that could be used to find out how much food waste Universities and Colleges, specifically, produce is the difference between the amount of food provided at the dinning hall and the amount of food consumed by the students v. The University of Miami, for example, has 9,979 undergraduate students who live on campus, to which, if we assume each students eats three meals a day in one school year (52 weeks) that weigh .35 pounds each. In one school year the entire student body at the University of Miami should consume an average of 544,853.4 pounds of food, which means that if The University were looking to reduce its Dining Hall food waste it should prepare slightly more than the estimate (perhaps 200,000 more pounds), but not significantly more (per see 600,000 extra pounds).

Even though estimating the potential food waste will not grant Universities and Colleges a reliable number to work with in order to prevent food waste during one school year since students could always eat somewhat more or less, calculating how much potential waste could be the start of a process that might help University Officials understand the importance of working with organizations that provide more efficient methods of “disposing” food waste than throwing them out. University of Miami, for example, is currently not networking with any organization, like The FRN, that helps dispose food waste in a more efficient manner. However, if the University’s President, Dona E. Shalala, saw the initiative of student’s to help the community save, per see 100,000 pounds of food waste per week, she might decide to enter The FRN community and begin to take The University of Miami daily “food waste” to the Miami Dade Food Bank.

Conclusion

Universities and Colleges across The United States strive to make a difference in the community. Whether it is by research or by educating, all higher levels of education across the nation seek to structure well minded civilians that will one day aid the community through various fields or forms. Yet, these institutions are providing The United States with something else that is, in fact, of less importance: food waste. Because Universities and Colleges are institutions that educate individuals of the importance of doing the good in the world, universities should begin implementing policies and networks that will, in effect, do good in there single communities by diminishing their own rate of food waste. Since food waste is a phenomenon, to which an extend, these institutes cannot avoid because of the lack of reliability in its calculations, colleges and universities should seek to implement policies, such as promoting tray-less dinning halls, or network with organizations, such as the FRN, that provide better alternatives to deal with the potential waste that dinning halls produce.

Endnotes

[1] “Resource Conservation: Food Recovery Resources.” EPA. Environmental Protection Agency, n.d. Web. 31 March. 2015

[1] Merrow, Kylie, Penzien Philip and Dubats, Trevor. Exploring Food Waste Reduction in Campus Dinning Halls (n.d): The Campus as a Living Laboratory with Dr. Harold Glasser, 2012. Web. 28 Mar. 2015.

[1] “Environmental Issues and Solutions to Current Environmental Problems.” NRDC. N.d. We. 31 Mar. 2015

[1] Davis, Alexa. “Eliminating College Dinning Halls Trays Cutes Water and Food Waste.” New York, NY. October 25, 2008. Web. 28 Mar. 2015.

[1] “Food Waste Etmation Guide.”- Recycng Works Massachussetts. Np., n.d Web. 31. Mar 2015.

[1] Barlett, Peggy F. “Campus Sustainable Food Projects: Critique and Engagement.” American Anthropologist 113.1 (2011): 1001-15 Web. March 25, 2015

[1] “About Us.” Food Recovery Network. N.p. n.d. Web. 31 Mar. 2015.

[1] “US Colleges and Universities.” Home. US Department of Education, n.d. Web. 28 Mar. 2015

Universities across the nation always prioritize athletic scholarships over any other athletics situation that may emerge, and as a student, it seems that Universities also prioritize athletes by upgrading their campus experience by giving them elite treatment in campus commodity (USA TODAY, 2013). As USA TODAY notes “Public Universities competing in NCAA Division I sports spend as much as six times more per athlete than they spend to educate students… (USA TODAY, 2013).” Apparently by increasing University spending on the athletic department, Universities are ensuring athletic scholarships, money grants, popularization and revenue from all of the port related merchandise, games and admiration an athletic department may obtain (Mckay, 2014). Logically, one may assume that Universities create some sort of a cycle in which they “invest” on the athletic department in order to obtain revenue during and after the concurrent sport season elapses (McKay, 2014). However, recent statistics done by the Delta Cost Project showed that from 2005 to 2010 less than a quarter of the 97% of schools made some sort of revenue from their initial investment, yet the school’s increased their investment per athlete by 64% (Guillespie, 2013). How is it then that Universities continue to increase their expenses in the athletics department when the revenues are not exceeding the investments? Or better yet, how can Universities afford to increase these investments if they are not making sufficient money to create a self-financed athletic department?

According to The NCAA 82% of Public Universities use part of Universities budgets, that is tuition, and state tax revenues in order to maintain the athletic department (Guillespie, 2013). As if focusing the educational based money on the athletics department is not cursed enough for students, many Universities across the nation, like The Louisiana State University and The University of Alabama, use University affiliated money to aid foundations and organizations sponsor University staff (GUillespie, 2013). For example, on October 2014 the University of Alabama and the Clemson Tide Foundation helped pay off Roll Tide’s Football Coach, Nick Saban’s, $3.1 million 8,759 square feet house, in which Coach Saban will reside after his retirement (Guillespie, 2013). How is it then, that students that pay $12,475.00 a semester on tuition only get six times less attention by the University than athletes? As an article published in Time Magazines states: “…administrators plead poverty when it comes to resources for faculty… (Guillespie, 2013).” Have sports gone from being embedded in America’s pride to being taxpayers and tuition payer’s worst nightmare?

Even though most Universities have not been so successful in creating a solid economical base for their athletics department, few top sports universities have luckily been able to break even in profits (McKay, 2013). Polls from 2010 and 2011 show that twenty-two of the top 120 Universities of the country manages to obtain some sort of profit, or at least create a self-sustained athletics department. However, as noted by The Daily Bantler, because such a small number of Universities were able to gain revenue a sort of sport, mainly football, hierarchy is forming among the top sport centered universities in the nation (McKay, 2013).

Even though American Universities are best-known world wide by its incomparable education and school pride, many studies show that today Universities are beginning to disperse their money to other areas of the school that perhaps don’t need as much concentration as the Universities perceive. After all, Universities are viewed as a mean to acquire education, whether it is by rights or by opportunity, education should be prioritized and distributed to all students –athletes or non- athletes equally—prep rallies, clubs and sports related programs and department should be handled form second hand perspective (USA TODAY, 2013). As former Professor and Co-Founder of the Coalition of the Intercollegiate Athletes, John Nichols from The Pennsylvania State University states: “the growing reliance by sports departments on University funds can mean in many circumstances one more assistant coach and one less English Professor teaching Shakespeare (USA TODAY, 2013).”

Work Cited:

Gillespie, Nick. “Football: A Waste of Taxpayers’ Money.” Dec 6 2013. Time Magazine. Web. Feb 25 2015.

McKay, Tom. “Upon Further Review, College Football Is a Giant Waste Of Money For Most Schools.” Oct 29 2014. The Daily Banter. Web. Feb 25 2015.

USA Today. “Division I Schools Spend More on Athletes Than Education.” SA TODAY. Jul 14 2013. Web. Feb 25 2014.

I believe that books in its physical form are superior than any other form of text. Books in its physical form have a certain je ne se pas that transmits to readers that virtual books cannot not. Perhaps it’s the feeling of pride in between your hands when you noticed you are holding a significant amount of pages read, or the glorious sensation of pages being flipped, that virtual books lack of. I believe that books are supposed to be personal, not virtual; the only virtual part of book is supposed to be your own creations not what technology has created for you.

I will admit though, it does get weary to pay extra dollars for your favorite books and drive to your nearest library in order to emerge into a new adventure, as you know that your next book is hidden somewhere in the technological world and it can probably be found for a more reasonable price with the press of a button. But, is scrolling down and swiping your finger around back and fourth a screen as exiting and joyful as getting lost inside a maze of bookcases?

When did we get so obsessed with technology that even the simple task of reading now involves a charger and an outlet? As kids we were taught that two of the greatest inventions of mankind were the papyrus and the printmaking process because it allowed us to keep records more organized and efficiently, yet today we are over-looking history with technology. When did relying on battery supply and a compressed glass become more efficient than print? How is it that we believe that something that can easily run out of battery, or break and no longer supply our demands be better than paper and ink?

Today we are so centered in technological advances that we are beginning to lose trait of what brought us pleasure. As a child I remember reaching out for books and watching a hungry caterpillar pop out of one page and dive into the next, and I’m proud to say such because I doubt that the future generations will experience the same. The future generations will learn how to enable shortcuts to find out who are the new trending authors on the latest kindle version, but I will always believe that the moments I spent sitting down in the floor of the library skimming through a book in order to figure out if it followed my trend of story telling will be of more value.

I believe in technological advances, and I also believe in modernization, however I still believe that physical printed books embark readers in an adventure that virtualized forms of text are unable to supply.

I have finally decided what topics I will be blogging about. In relation to my passion blog, I will continue to uncover the secret menu from Starbucks. Every week I will find a new beverage (it could be a coffee or a tea), give a review and give you guys the home version recipe of the beverage. Also, I will try to relate the beverages I chose for the blog as much as I can to our daily and/or college life. For example, during the month of February I will try to find beverages that are Valentine’s Day inspired, and during finals week I will try to find beverages that are high in caffeine in order to help you guys stay awake and study. At times, I will blog about beverages that are not in the secret menu, but that you can personalize. Last semester, for example, I blogged about different ways you can convert the regular Hazelnut or Caramel Macchiato into a pumpkin or s’more Macchiato.

As far as my civic issue blog, I have decided to blog about Athletics in the Educational system. Recently, a controversy has risen in which many Universities have been found guilty of giving special academic treatment to athletes in order to polish their athletics department. Therefore, I have decided to blog every other week about topics in relation to this issue. For instance, one blog may be in relation to a specific university that pledged guilty and its sanctions, another blog may be about the statistics of student’s who have decide to drop out of college and purse a professional career because of the restrains they experience. However, with this topic I am not trying to attack the educational system, players or a specific University, rather I am trying to learn more and blog about the different points of view and cases that are related to this specific subject.

I believe that books in its physical form are superior than any other form of text. Books in its physical form have a certain je ne se pas that transmits to readers that virtual books do not. Perhaps it’s the feeling of pride in between your hands when you noticed you are holding a significant amount of pages read, or the glorious sensation of pages being flipped, that virtual books lack of.

I will admit though, it does get weary to pay extra dollars for your favorite books and drive to your nearest library in order to emerge into a new adventure, as you know that your next book is hidden somewhere in the technological world and it can probably be found for a more reasonable price with the press of a button. But, is scrolling down and swiping your finger around back and fourth a screen as exiting and joyful as getting lost inside a maze of bookcases?

When did we get so obsessed with technology that even the simple task of reading now involves a charger and an outlet? As kids we were taught that two of the greatest inventions of mankind were the papyrus and the printmaking process because it allowed us to keep records more efficiently, yet today we are over-looking history with technology. When did relying on battery supply and a compressed glass become more efficient than print? How is it that we believe that something that can easily run out of battery and no longer supply our demands be better than a good old-fashioned book.

Today we are so centered in technological advances that we are beginning to lose trait of what brought us pleasure. As a child I remember reaching out for books and watching a hungry caterpillar pop out of one page and dive into the next, and I’m proud to say such facts because I doubt that the generations to come will experience the same happening. The next generations will learn how to enable shortcuts to find out the new trending authors on their 6inch LCD screen kindle in white, but I will always cherish the moments that I spent sitting down in the floor of the library skimming through a book in order to figure out if it followed my trend of story telling.

I believe in fads and modernization, but I also believe that physical printed books are better than any virtualized form of text.

***Please leave any suggestions on how I can improve my project. Thank you 🙂

Even after an entire semester of blogging, I still find myself sitting on top of my bed trying to brainstorm topics for future blogs. In relation to my passion blog I think I am going to keep my current topic, which is uncovering the secret menu from Starbucks. By uncovering the secret menu in every blog post I will describe the beverage, name reasons why you should purchase it or why you shouldn’t purchase it, and give you a home made recipe version of the beverage. However, if I were to change my topic I would blog about different traveling destinations every week. I would blog about locations that you would think are unusual to go to, or have never even thought about going to, like the Peshawar in Pakistan.

As far as my “This I Believe” topics I have managed to come up with a couple of ideas. The first idea is about virtual books versus print books. I strongly believe that books that are printed are much more enjoyable than any virtual book you can find on a kindle, for example. Personally, I think that grasping the paper between your fingers and actually turning the page around feels more comforting than just swiping your finger across the screen. The second topic that I am considering to talk about is about the power of gazing. I strongly believe that with a gaze, or a look, you can communicate as efficiently with anyone. Even as a child, it didn’t take much for my mother to know that I was hungry or sad. Today, with only a look I can communicate to my peers if I’m sad, annoyed or even exited. I strongly believe that gazing can deliver a message, just like sentences do.

For my civic issue bog I am torn in between two topics I really like that are completely different. The first topic would love to blog about centers itself around athletes in colleges. Recently I watched a report in which former University of North Carolina (UNC) athletes made allegations against the university, because the university granted special academic treatment to athletes in order for them to obtain the grade needed to stay in the sports programs. This issue is still under investigation, and therefore I think it would be an interesting topic to keep up with in my blog, while concentrating in the question of whether universities should grant athletes special academic treatment. Further discussion questions I could focus on with this issue are: Should universities lower their standards in order to avoid these frauds from happening? Or should universities treat athletes like regular students? The second idea I have for my civic issue blog is about the racial inequality that exists among women in the work area. Recently I have been reading some studies and articles that show how certain stereotypes of women are less likely to get a job. Oversized African American women, for instance, are less likely to get a job if they are applying for the same job position as other petit African American women. If I chose to blog about this issue I would try to find more articles about why this inequality exist, or why it occurs predominantly among the female gender.

My first semester of college has been very unexpected to say the least. I came to college with the mentality of doing my best and not caring about anything else but my GPA. Of course, this sounds easier than done. I quickly found out how sleep and exams can become your enemy overnight. Nevertheless, this has taught me how to prioritize certain assignments and how to manage my time more efficiency. For example, back in high school I was able to study for an exam, write a five page paper and do all of my next day homework’s over night and still manage to obtain some spare time to binge watch Netflix. However, this is no longer the case, I have learned that if I want to do quality work I have to clear out my schedule in order to do all my homework’s separately, my paper during the weekend and leave a day or two free in order to study for an exam.

Even though I have faced some pretty scary assignments (like my first RCL speech), college has not been so terrifying after all. I have seen how certain of my skills have improved (like my public speaking abilities), and have also, I have seen how my independence and reasoning skills have grown. I think that part of this growth happened because I am taking classes that are challenging the bonkers out of me and because my parents are about a six hour airplane flight away from me. I don’t regret anything I have done so far, but if I had the chance to redo certain assignments or fix small but significant mistakes Ive done on exams and assignments, like miss-reading a word or being afraid of the clock, I would certainly do it. I know that the only thing that has kept me from preforming at an excellent level of work has been me, and I also know that the only thing that can help me reach that excellent level of work is also me, so in Spring 2015 I am going to push myself to reach that excellent level of work.

Going into the one button studio I was very nervous since to say the least, I blew it on my first studio. When I pushed the button and the clock stocked zero my body pretty much went numb and I just began talking about how the connotation of the word has changed throughout the years, and it surprisingly went well.

My introduction was my favorite part of my entire talk since it came very natural to me. I began talking about my childhood favorite book and a lot of people could relate to it, which I thought was pretty cool. I also felt really accomplished when people actually giggled when I tried to be humorous by pointing out what was probably going on through their minds.

After watching my video I felt really sad since I actually requested “If I Ran The Zoo” and was going to use it during my talk in order to make my introductory claim stronger, but it did not arrive on time and watching the video just made me notice how much better and powerful it would have been if I had the book.

However, I did choke in some parts and that just made me somewhat panic and thereby certain words where off. Yet, I think that that was normal since we were all very nervous and at some point probably experienced this same feeling. Thus, in the end, I am very pleased with my work and know that I did well both, hiding my nerves and explaining my points clearly and slowly

Feel free to watch my video, but please don’t laugh; understand I was nervous and I’m no expert when it comes to talking about nerds.

For my TED talk I’m trying to give an overview of how the idea of nerds has changed over time, mainly how our reactions towards nerds has completely shifted in a span of time that seems like a blink of an eye. My main goal is to highlight how nerds went from being pushed in the hallways and shoved into lockers, to being the most valuable members of society. Through this main idea, I want to guide my talk into the belief that today we all want to be nerds. In other words, I want to emphasize on the fact that we are striving to become this person that we used to loathe.

Originally I was planning to support my evidence mainly with scholarly information I used on my paper, but as I think more about my TED Talk I want to use some fashion traits that prove how today being a nerd is considered cool. For instance, I was thinking about holding up pictures of what a typical nerd would use back in the 1990’s and society would perceive it as unfashionable, but how today the exact same accessories are viewed as hipster and fashionable.

I decided to concentrate my TED Talk on these aspects because it is something that I think our generation has seen at first hand. In other words, our generation is the one living through this drastic change. For instance, we grew up seeing this stereotypical idea of a nerd guy or girl as awkward, but today we see the same style and trend on other boys and girls (celebrities or not) and consider them cute, trendy and hipster looking.

Even though I think one of my favorite parts of the paper is when I begin to talk about how the way we perceive nerd hobbies, like being passionate towards comic books and superheroes, has also shifted radically and the creation of the word “geek”, I don’t think I will be able to cover this material on my TED Talk since it doesn’t fall under my main goal.

When I think of nerds I have small flashbacks of younger self repeating phrases or ideas that I used to see in the television that made fun of nerds or underestimated their potential. I also have small flashbacks of television shows depicting nerds as skinny ugly looking, big glass wearing stereotypes that people bullied. Additionally, I have memories of people referring to nerds as an outcast of society that, at times, where so alienated that the “nerd” ideal became a stereotype itself. The nerd stereotype has survived numerous paradigms shifts, or social changes, through dated and contemporary television shows, like Saved by the Bell, Doug, Greek, the Big Bang Theory etc. In addition to the television, the nerd stereotype look has survived due to the constant recreation of the nerd look of celebrities that are always seen with nerd fashion trends like Taylor Swifts with nerd glasses and Bruno Mars with suspenders. Nevertheless, as our world becomes more modernized and new principles and fads emerge, the “nerd” phrase has acquired a different meaning and quickly changed it from a negative connotation into a compliment and has additionally transformed the nerd attire from unappealing to desirable.

This is my introduction, I really do not like it. I feel it is very dull and broad in comparison to what I am actually trying to express before my reader reaches my body paragraphs. I am having a lot of trouble trying to present my main case, if you have any ideas of how you can help me improve my main ideas (the nerd stereotype has survived mainly because television shows and fads, but it has completely reached another meaning, before being a nerd was undesirable, today being a nerd is a compliment). Please give me suggestions of how you think I could express these ideas more efficiently.