For my “This I believe” project, I am having a bit of a struggle deciding on one specific belief of mine to choose as my topic. Although I have thought endlessly of what to do, I have still not come up with a definite answer. One of my ideas is to talk about how I believe in religion, but not the church. However I don’t think this qualifies, since in the rubric of the project it says we should state something we believe in, rather than something we don’t believe in. Another idea of mine was to talk about my philosophy of complimenting someone at least once a day. I have read countless times that it takes a person at least seven compliments to negate a negative thought , so in sophomore year of high school I began complimenting someone at least once a day to hopefully make them feel better about themselves. I would compliment their hair, smile, outfit, a drawing of theirs, or even an essay they might have done, basically whatever came to mind to make them smile. One of my final ideas for this essay and podcast is to talk about my belief in the cliche statement of “stopping and smelling the roses”. Whether or not you take this statement literally, I feel that everybody should at least slow down from their busy lives a couple times a day and really take in their surroundings. But like I said, I am still deciding on what I should do exactly for this project.
For my Civic issues blog, I was really drawn towards the environment option, especially the climate change topic. I have always found the environment in its entirety fascinating, so I think this option would be the most fun for me to research and learn about. The other option that I found interesting was identities and rights. However, I wrote a lot about humans’ rights and the possibly freedoms that would be affected under our current President-elect last semester, so I feel as though I need a break from this topic.
As for my Passion blog, I intend to keep it the same. Last semester my Passion blog explored the details and the price range of different items on my bucket list. I really enjoyed learning the specifics of everything and I am more than perfectly fine with continuing it again this semester, since I still have a lot more items left to go. In addition to the topic of my Passion blog, I also intend to keep the content the same in each post. Meaning each post will consist of a bit of backstory to the item and why it is on my bucket list, the details of the specific item, and how much each aspect will cost me in the future.
For your This I Believe assignment, I feel as though if you believe hard enough in a topic then you could shape it to fit the rubric. If you believe in religion, but not the church perhaps there is a way you can craft it so it shows that you believe in values opposite the church. Or if that does not work, it seems you are passionate about using compliments to make someone’s, and your own, day better. Also, for the Civic Issues Blog, if you can not decide between the subjects of the environment and rights, you could think of a way to mesh the two maybe. For example, environmental rights, like protecting certain areas or preventing destruction. If not, then I would personally stick with the topic of the environment because of how much you wrote about humans’ rights last semester. Also, considering you are more invested in the environment and therefore, your blogs will probably be of better quality. Finally, for the Passion blog, that sounds like a very intriguing, unique idea that I would love to read about so good luck with it, and I am looking forward to reading your work!