A Happy Little Boy

            The static visual rhetoric is an image of a happy obese child with unhealthy foods all around him. The genre of this image is a sketch. It is a colorful image with all the food in the usual colors that it would actually be. The purpose of this image is to warn that the unhealthy foods shown in the sketch will make a person gain weight. Although the little boy in the image is very happy, he is also overweight and his tight-fitting clothes emphasizes this, as his stomach is emerging out from under his clothes.

            Children are most likely the target of the message of this image because the person in the image is a child. Also, children are known to be more inclined to like and eat foods similar to those in the image than people in the other age groups. The fact that the young boy is happy surrounded by all the unhealthy food but also overweight, is a symbol of how the temporary satisfaction of sweet and fat foods could result in the unintended problem of obesity. Thus, warning against the indulgence of appetizing unhealthy food such as ice cream, candy, and cake.

Scholarly Source On the Topic of Childhood Obesity

Writing a research paper requires the reference of credible sources to be used within the paper in order to add credibility to the paper. Locating scholarly sources can be difficult at times. However, using a school library’s database can assist you in finding them. Using my schools database, I located an article by Lytle on childhood obesity, which is what the research paper I am writing is about. I determined that this document was a scholarly article because of the place where I found it and because throughout the context of this paper, the author made references to original research that had been made on the topic.

Dealing with the childhood obesity epidemic: a public health approach is an article describing childhood obesity and what strategies are presently being used to try to slow the progression of the disease. It explains in detail the primary prevention efforts of this disease. It also raises some questions on the future of childhood obesity and how it will change in the next few years. It presents questions on what problems clinicians and health professionals may face in the future. Overall, this article achieves to present a good rhetorical message about childhood obesity. 

The Problem of Obesity

Obesity has become one of the major nutrition problems in our present society. This is probably due to the many changes that have occurred within the American culture. Most of our food is now very highly processed and contains a large amount of saturated fats, sugar, and sodium. Additionally, people spend much less time in the kitchen preparing their meals and much more time at unhealthy fast foods restaurants. Physical activity has also declined with more people relying on cars for transportation and technology to complete simple tasks that were once done by hand.
            The reversal of these conditions will not be effortless. The public will need to be inclined to make changes towards a healthier lifestyle, nutrition professionals will need to find ways to persuade the public and politicians to reach certain nutritional goals, and politicians will need to permit the adoption and implementation of nutrition policies that will be in favor of the public’s well being. With everyone having the same mindset, it will allow for much advancement related to nutrition.

However, this is very unrealistic and dreamlike. There will never be a point in which these three groups of people are all thinking alike. However, gradual changes are possible, starting with the population who presently has the desire to change. If you think you are one of these people, even if you are not obese or even overweight, start making some moves to become a better you, health wise. 

Literacy Issues Related to Nutrition

            On the topic of literacy, there are hundreds of thousands of people who immigrate to the United States and do not know how to put together a single sentence in the English language. Although nutrition is probably one of the last things on their minds, there exists an additional hurdle that they have to overcome in order to make wise decisions while they are shopping for their food. For instance, they are not able to read nutrition facts and other labels on packaged foods. This makes them unconscious of what kinds of ingredients are in foods and of what they are putting in their bodies.

            This group of people is at a major disadvantage when it comes to the act of eating nutritiously, and an initiative should be taken by the government to facilitate their opportunities in making healthy choices. This will not only promote equality but also help in the advancements of nutrition within the United States.
            Some ways in which the government could facilitate a healthy grocery shopping experience for immigrant’s are by providing nutritional facts and other food labels in several languages, by having a computer system that is able to scan any food product in the grocery store and give the nutritional facts in other languages besides English, or by providing more nutrition education classes to these underprivileged groups of people.

Can you think of other ways in which the government could help these groups of people make healthier choices in grocery stores?

Language Differences

            Language is one very important aspect of being able to interact and build in-depth relationships with people. However, when the language spoken at home differs from the language spoken at school, this may become distressing because two contrasting identities are formed and one has to transition between the two. These different identities are formed because the two different languages do not only consist of letters, words, and sentences. They come with their differing cultures, which consist of different lifestyles, values, morals, and traditions.

            For instance, in my life, Spanish is the language of the home and English is the language of school. For a while, when I was starting to learn English in school, all I wanted to do was practice my English and not speak Spanish at all. However, I kept speaking Spanish because that is the only language my mom understood, and as I got older, I began to realize how useful knowing two languages is and I now feel fortunate to have been able to learn both languages. I proudly speak to my mother, my Mexican family members and other Spanish-speaking people in Spanish. In addition, I proudly speak to my friends, professors, and other people at school in English. 

My Mother's Stories

          As I was growing up, I cannot remember of any fictional stories that I was told, but I do remember many true stories that my mother would tell me about her childhood in Mexico. She was the second youngest of 11 children. Her father was and alcoholic and her mother was a very emotional and depressed woman. They were very poor but still managed to get by because her older siblings were old enough to work and help out the family. They would sleep next to each other, on the floor, in one room. They would walk everywhere because they had no cars. Their mother did not allow my mother or her sisters to keep up with their education after grade school even if they begged her because girls were meant to stay home and maintain a household by cooking, cleaning, and doing everything else that a man would not.

            As a walk the paths to my classes here at Texas A&M, I am grateful of every opportunity I’ve been given. From one generation to the next, a billion things can change. It could have easily changed for the worse but it didn’t, and for that, I thank my mother for being the strong woman that she is and going through everything she went through and desiring a much better life for me. I am thankful for her stories, which I have learned many lessons from and have made me appreciate everything I have, everything I am, and everything I am not. 

Why Run?

            There exist less broad ideas of culture, which consist of people who share similar interests. The running culture is one of them. The reasons why people begin to run are wide-ranging. However, the reasons why they continue to run are very similar. The sense of accomplishment felt at the end of every run is what many people are attracted to. Knowing that they have pushed their bodies to an extent they did not know was possible is phenomenal. It creates confidence in an individual and gives them a strength that helps them believe that they can do anything they set their minds to do. The challenge makes them better and stronger human beings. It empowers them and gives them a sense of pride even when they have other aspects of their lives which they are not as proud of. 

            No one knows what kind of effect running will have on them until they actually go out there and do it, and once they realize the many rewards they can receive and how much their lives can be enriched by running, they never wish to stop.

            This past weekend, I ran my second half marathon, which is a distance of 13.1 miles. It was very encouraging being surrounded by hundreds of people running towards the same finish line, climbing the same hills and desiring that same sense of achievement. It is amazing and pleasing to see how many people have joined the running community in the past years. The research conducted on all the benefits of running has enriched the running culture and has attracted many people who never thought they would consider themselves runners. 

The Running Culture

            Runners live in a world dissimilar from the rest of the population. They have their own culture and similarities in goals, which are distinct from many humans’ goals. In an analysis of the two articles below, the subject is of interest to most of the people within this population of runners.

Alex Hutchinson, the author of The Morning Person Advantage, writes about the likelihood that more morning people, rather than night “owls”, will become competitive athletes because most races are scheduled in the morning. The three Aristotelian appeals are used throughout his article. He appeals to logos with the statistical information he provides by presenting charts of the information he researched to solidify his claim. The appeal to pathos is evident when he describes the time of day that many races take place as, “an unpleasant fact of life”. His word choice is influencing his audience to think of this time of day in an unfavorable manner. Furthermore, an appeal to ethos is also achieved when he mentions the opposing side of his research. His tone is rather friendly, especially at the end of his article when he recommends making events at a later time of the day to benefit those athletes who are being left out because they are not morning people.

The same author, Alex Hutchinson, also wrote the article, Runner’s High From Medium But Not Hard Exercise. Here he writes about how there exists a certain range of aerobic intensity that gives runners a high. However aerobic intensities above and below that range do not produce a runner’s high. Here he also uses the three Aristotelian appeals. He cites several sources from which he got some of his information from and uses statistics again through the form of a chart to clarify his statements. This appeals to logos. He appeals to ethos, as well, when points out some inaccuracy in the research he found. This shows that even though he agrees with a large part of the research, he is aware of the faultiness in some information and does not fail to express it. In addition, there is also an appeal to pathos when he uses the phrase, “sweet spot” to equate to the runner’s high that is achieved by performing some types of aerobic exercise. A runner’s high is already a favorable state, but with his word choice he emphasizes this to appeal to his audience.

 

The Meaning of Life

            Humanity possesses an innate determination to give life a certain meaning. This is one aspect of the universal culture. With every daily action they take and every effort they put into their relationships and their professions, mankind wishes to see the results in their future in some kind of way. They want to know that everything they do has value and is for a good reason, which may be done by giving, in order to make other peoples’ lives better and easier or by working hard in order to have personal satisfaction and feel successful in their own lives.

Every action has an outcome, and that outcome is what people are searching for. They want to know if it made some sort of impact, if it was meaningful to someone or to themselves, or if they felt rewarded or satisfied when they performed the act. Everyone wants to feel significant in a world covered by billions of people, and that is easier for some than others. Some are fulfilled with small achievements but others seek high achievement because they want large rewards. The pattern here is that human beings want to be certain that their lives are worthwhile, that they made a difference and left a dent in the world. 

The Present, Past, and Future Culture

Culture is the similarity that people share, but it is something deeper than just the clothes they wear, the language they speak, and the technology they utilize. A professional businessman living in downtown New York City, with the most cutting-edge  technology and the latest Audi vehicle, is comparable to a mechanic living in a poverty-stricken town in Mexico who is struggling to put food on the table for his family. Both of these men wish to be happy, one of them could associate that happiness with having an abundance of money, the other with spending time with his family and nurturing those relationships, but the idea of finding happiness still exists in both their lives.

The point here is that culture is universal. It is the aspirations that people share. Everyone wants to be happy, they want to be successful, and they want to be loved. The words of Matthew Arnold, in Culture and Anarchy, could not explain this idea any better when he writes how culture is, "...all the love of our neighbour, the impulses towards action, help, and beneficence, the desire for removing human error, clearing human confusion, and diminishing human misery...". He describes culture as being, to a certain extent, the inherent desires that humankind shares. 
       Some may say that culture is always evolving but when looked at in this respect, it is not. It is everlasting and has never changed.