UCLR 100 – Bost Thinking about Blog #1: “What’s in a Word? Due Sept. 27, by 5:00 PM, to the Blogs section on Sakai Remember that your blog should be in the range of 400-700 words. You will be addressing skills and ideas introduced in class, but the blog format should enable you to be more focused on what you think rather than summary. While I still expect everyone’s writing to be clear, careful, and well-focused, the blog genre enables you to be more informal in tone, to address wider audiences, and to receive a wider range of feedback. As you post each blog, you are given the option to choose your audience: your instructor, the class as a whole, or the general public. I strongly encourage you to make at least one of your blogs this semester open either to the class or the public. I also encourage you to meet with me during office hours to discuss any stage of the thinking and writing process. Your first blog should answer the prompt “What’s in a Word?” and be focused on the skills of close-reading and reaction. Choose one of the texts we’ve read thus far (one of the poems by Whitman, Hughes, or Campo; the essay by Campo; or the stories by Gilman or Corin) and focus on one important phrase or sentence. How does the author’s language in this phrase/sentence communicate his/her message? What are the biases or connotations of particular words? Do you agree with this bias or message? Running head: OBESITY IN USA; REASONS, DISTRIBUTION AND POSSIBLE MITIGATION 1 OBESITY IN USA; REASONS, DISTRIBUTION AND POSSIBLE MITIGATION 5 OBESITY IN USA; REASONS, DISTRIBUTION AND POSSIBLE MITIGATION Name Institution affiliation Instructor Course Date Obesity in USA; Reasons, Distribution and Possible Mitigation Introduction This paper aims to look at obesity in America in General. It aims to look into possible causes of obesity. Based on causes, it will identify the measures that have been taken to control the condition and as well suggest what other measures could be taken, including research into more methods to mitigate not only obesity but also its impacts. It will therefore be significant at informing healthcare providers and individuals with obesity and their immediate families on what they can do differently. After identifying the distribution of obesity on various age groups, sexes/gender and ethnic groups, it will also inform on the probable reasons behind the variations if there are any. General problem statement The general problem of this assignment is to find out the reason as to why the US has such a huge number of obese people and if it is so across all demographic segments. America is among the countries the highest number of people with obesity as a percentage of the general population. Both Edwards (2013) and Murphy (2012) have the statistics at about 35% of Americans being ob ...

1. UCLR 100 – Bost
Thinking about Blog #1: “What’s in a Word?
Due Sept. 27, by 5:00 PM, to the Blogs section on Sakai
Remember that your blog should be in the range of 400-700
words. You will be addressing skills and ideas introduced in
class, but the blog format should enable you to be more focused
on what you think rather than summary. While I still expect
everyone’s writing to be clear, careful, and well-focused, the
blog genre enables you to be more informal in tone, to address
wider audiences, and to receive a wider range of feedback. As
you post each blog, you are given the option to choose your
audience: your instructor, the class as a whole, or the general
public. I strongly encourage you to make at least one of your
blogs this semester open either to the class or the public. I also
encourage you to meet with me during office hours to discuss
any stage of the thinking and writing process.
Your first blog should answer the prompt “What’s in a Word?”
and be focused on the skills of close-reading and reaction.
Choose one of the texts we’ve read thus far (one of the poems
by Whitman, Hughes, or Campo; the essay by Campo; or the
stories by Gilman or Corin) and focus on one important phrase
or sentence. How does the author’s language in this
phrase/sentence communicate his/her message? What are the
biases or connotations of particular words? Do you agree with
this bias or message?
Running head: OBESITY IN USA; REASONS, DISTRIBUTION
AND POSSIBLE MITIGATION
1
OBESITY IN USA; REASONS, DISTRIBUTION AND
POSSIBLE MITIGATION 5

2. OBESITY IN USA; REASONS, DISTRIBUTION AND
POSSIBLE MITIGATION
Name
Institution affiliation
Instructor
Course
Date
Obesity in USA; Reasons, Distribution and Possible Mitigation
Introduction
This paper aims to look at obesity in America in General. It
aims to look into possible causes of obesity. Based on causes, it
will identify the measures that have been taken to control the
condition and as well suggest what other measures could be
taken, including research into more methods to mitigate not
only obesity but also its impacts. It will therefore be significant
at informing healthcare providers and individuals with obesity
and their immediate families on what they can do differently.
After identifying the distribution of obesity on various age
groups, sexes/gender and ethnic groups, it will also inform on
the probable reasons behind the variations if there are any.
General problem statement
The general problem of this assignment is to find out the reason
as to why the US has such a huge number of obese people and if
it is so across all demographic segments. America is among the

3. countries the highest number of people with obesity as a
percentage of the general population. Both Edwards (2013) and
Murphy (2012) have the statistics at about 35% of Americans
being obese. Obesity is a sign of poor health and it can have
several negative impacts including heart problems and type 2
diabetes (Boero, 2012). It therefore ought to be prevented.
While the healthcare system in the US is quite good compared
to a good number of others in the developed nations, it centers
very much on curing rather than prevention. Thus, prescription
weight loss medication is likely to be used as opposed to
positive behavior such as healthy diets and working out.
Obesity can’t be classified as a disease, but it’s a condition that
can be very chronic (Heinberg, & Thompson 2009). It could be
prevented in most cases. Prevention involves identifying the
causes. Then, these causes might be different among various
demographic sections such as age groups, sexes and even ethnic
sub groups. Based on statistics, it is possible to understand the
specific applications of mitigation measures for each these
groups besides general mitigation if there is such an option.
Specific problem
The specific problem of this research is to find the possible
reasons behind the high number of obese people in the US; then
finding out if the number is evenly distributed across
demographic groups so as to see if there is a common approach
to countering the problem.
Purpose statement
The purpose of this research is to find out the basic reasons
behind obesity in USA. Then, it aims at finding out the
distribution of obesity among various demographic sub-
divisions based on age, sex and even ethnicity among other
factors. Based on this, it has the conclusive objective of finding
whether there is a common approach of dealing with diabetes
across all demographic division identified.
Research questions
To arrive at information necessary for any assuagement and
review, several questions would need to be answered. These

4. include:
1. What are the most prevalent and basic causes of obesity?
2. What are the recent trends in statistics about obesity among
various age groups, sexes and ethnic groups?
3. Is the distributing of obesity uniform among these groups
identified in (ii) above?
4. If the distribution is uniform, why?
5. If it’s not, what could be the explanation behind that?
6. What risks are associated with obesity?
7. What measures have been taken to counter obesity?
8. Are these measures uniform across all individuals? What are
the differences and what are the reasons behind these
differences?
9. How has the ministry and lobby group reacted to the obesity
situation?

5. References
Boero, N. (2012). Killer fat: Media, medicine, and morals in the
American "obesity epidemic" New Brunswick, NJ: Rutgers
University Press.
Edwards, L. (2013). In the kingdom of the sick: A social history
of chronic illness in America. New York: Walker &.
Heinberg, L. J., & Thompson, J. K. (2009). Obesity in youth:
Causes, consequences, and cures. Washington, DC: American
Psychological Association.
Murphy, W. B. (2012). Obesity. Minneapolis, MN: Twenty-First
Century Books.
Song of myself
Has anyone supposed it luck to be born? I hasten to inform him
or her it is just as lucky to die, and I know it
Walt Whitmans.
Lucky to live or lucky to die?
Did you know that a fly has a life expectancy of two weeks?
Maybe you did; but suppose your life expectancy was the same
as that of a fly, would you consider achieving all your

6. ambitions in that limited period of time?
It might not be possible to have all your education, get a job,
get married, have kids and watch them grow, have a bright
future and be ready to die peacefully, but one thing for sure,
you should be lucky having been born human. A good
opportunity for you to meet people of your kind, travel across
the country, work in different environments, encounter various
challenges here and there. These are the things that make you
who you are.
Think of that person you are seated next to in a cab heading
home from work, torn and tired just like you are. His life
ambitions may be similar to yours, but can you get to know the
burden of problems he is carrying from deep within? No. In as
much as our goals to lead a better life and have a bright future
are similar, the problems we encounter in our paths to success
are very much varied. You might be able to handle your own
issues, believe me you won’t be able to handle mine.
You have worked hard all your life, what next? In your old age
you have seen all that one could ever desire to see during his
time and you have seen all your dreams come true, except for a
few, of course it happens. Sitting in the garden every day
enjoying the early morning sunlight, feeling the cold breeze
from the mountain side. Life has given you all you desired, all
your kids are learned and are now self dependent. You no longer
have the dreams to call future. What else in life do you ask for?
Death. Yes, the only other option you have is to wait for your
death. You are lucky if it comes faster and you are the first one
on the line. Someone else somewhere will say after all, he lived
a peaceful life. But suppose one of your most successful kids is
the lead in the death journey? Stress and misfortune will surely
bring you to your own death. How else then would you define
being lucky to die?